New documents on Ontera sale reveal multi-million dollar blunder

Last year’s sale of Ontera to Bell Aliant didn’t go over that well with many, and the newly released numbers are backing up those worries.

The Liberal government lost $61-million when it sold the Crown corporation and the worst part about it, according to Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson, was the consulting work beforehand.

$6.5-million was paid out for lawyers and consulting work to advise them to sell.  The sale itself was worth $6-million.

“It just goes to show this government thinks about their friends far more than they think of Ontarians,” said Bisson.

The Public Accounts report states “a loss on disposal of shares of Ontera” of almost $61 million and that the “the government provided a one-time contribution of $52,092,000 to support the sale” of the Crown corporation.

“What’s worse is, they’re now about to sell off Ontario Hydro, a company worth over $20-billion,” Bisson added, “What can we expect when you look at what they did with Ontera, a company that was worth just over $60-billion.”

In July 2014, it was reported 40 positions would be slashed in the two years following August’s sale.  Seven of them were in Timmins, another seven in New Liskeard and six in Cochrane.