Transportation Minister’s winter maintenance fines aren’t worth the paper they’re written on News Date

Queen’s Park – One year after the QEW was transformed into a treacherous unplowed ice rink, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca has yet to yet to actually deal with the situation according to PC Transportation critic Michael Harris.

“While the Minister boasts of $500,000 dollars in fines for the November nightmare, those fines are still under negotiation a year later,” Harris indicated in the Legislature. “Yesterday, the Minister didn’t even know if the contractor ‎would actually be paying the penalties he’s levied.”

Harris noted that when the Liberal government watered down contract standards in 2009 to save a few bucks, they included a bizarre dispute process that renders the fine system virtually useless.

“According to the Auditor that process led to 80 per cent of fines levied in 2013 not being collected,” asserted Harris. “Will the Minister tell us the amount of fines levied last winter and how much did he actually collect?”

While the Minister refused to answer the direct question, Harris later noted that the ongoing fine announcements are little more than distractions to divert attention away from government’s sub-standard contracts that have risked the safety of Ontario motorists.

“The Minister knows full well that no amount of fine can make up for the tragic toll this government’s compromised contracting has taken,” Harris added. “And yet the fine announcements continue as he spins and spends, rewarding contractors with new equipment that government failed to ensure was on hand when they awarded the sub-standard contracts in the first place.”

See Mike’s question in the house here: https://youtu.be/VofPEkxsidg