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Ontario's Liberals launched contempt proceedings against Progressive Conservative Vic Fedeli Thursday for releasing documents that the government insisted contained sensitive business data that the Opposition had agreed to keep secret.

TORONTO Ontarios Liberals launched contempt proceedings against Progressive Conservative Vic Fedeli Thursday for releasing documents that the government insisted contained sensitive business data that the Opposition had agreed to keep secret.

Fedeli flagrantly breached his duty to keep the information confidential, government house leader John Milloy wrote in a letter to Speaker Dave Levac. There can be no doubt that Mr. Fedeli was aware that the information he disclosed was contained in a commercially sensitive document that was confidential to the committee.

READ MORE:Conservatives accuse Premier Wynne of lying about Ontarios finances

Fedeli rose in the legislature Tuesday to quote from documents that were given to the legislatures estimates committee, saying they showed Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals had been advised they were billions of dollars short on their deficit reduction targets, but then lied about the state of Ontarios finances to the public.

This is all about Kathleen Wynne. This is all on her watch, Fedeli repeated Thursday. Its her and her alone thats being deceitful.

The contempt charge is the Liberals way of getting back at the Tories for accusing former energy minister Chris Bentley of contempt for not releasing documents on two cancelled gas plants that cost taxpayers $1.1 billion, added Fedeli.

They lied to the taxpayers about the budget and now they are running scared, he said. Theyve decided to come after me personally.

The Conservatives insisted Fedeli released only documents that the committee had determined could be made public, not those they agreed would remain confidential to protect businesses or third parties seeking contracts with the government. If the government put the cabinet documents Fedeli quoted in the wrong box given to the committee, that was the Liberals fault, not his, said PC house leader Jim Wilson.

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Ontario Liberals accuse PC MPP Vic Fedeli of contempt

TORONTO - Ontario's Liberals launched contempt proceedings against Progressive Conservative Vic Fedeli Thursday for releasing documents that the government insisted contained sensitive business data that the Opposition had agreed to keep secret.

"Fedeli flagrantly breached his duty to keep the information confidential," government house leader John Milloy wrote in a letter to Speaker Dave Levac. "There can be no doubt that Mr. Fedeli was aware that the information he disclosed was contained in a commercially sensitive document that was confidential to the committee."

Fedeli rose in the legislature Tuesday to quote from documents that were given to the legislature's estimates committee, saying they showed Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals had been advised they were billions of dollars short on their deficit reduction targets, but then "lied" about the state of Ontario's finances to the public.

"This is all about Kathleen Wynne. This is all on her watch," Fedeli repeated Thursday. "It's her and her alone that's being deceitful."

The contempt charge is the Liberals' way of getting back at the Tories for accusing former energy minister Chris Bentley of contempt for not releasing documents on two cancelled gas plants that cost taxpayers $1.1 billion, added Fedeli.

"They lied to the taxpayers about the budget and now they are running scared," he said. "They've decided to come after me personally."

The Conservatives insisted Fedeli released only documents that the committee had determined could be made public, not those they agreed would remain confidential to protect businesses or third parties seeking contracts with the government. If the government put the cabinet documents Fedeli quoted in the wrong box given to the committee, that was the Liberals' fault, not his, said PC house leader Jim Wilson.

"You guys messed up by sending four different versions of one document," Wilson told the legislature. "You can't even do a coverup properly."

One of the documents Fedeli released showed the Liberals considered a broad-based public sector wage freeze until 2017-18 to eliminate the $11.7 billion deficit by then, which he said should always have been public.

"That is not commercially sensitive, that's politically a bombshell," said Fedeli. "They claim it's commercially sensitive information when they are clearly talking about things that are just political bombshells."

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Liberals accuse PC Vic Fedeli of contempt

Will Hodgman Election Night Speech
Liberal Leader Will Hodgman #39;s speech on election night, 15th March 2014.

By: Tasmanian Liberals

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Will Hodgman Election Night Speech - Video

Ontario Liberals are spending the weekend girding for a spring election they do not want.

But if Premier Kathleen Wynnes minority government is toppled in a budget confidence vote, internal party polls show some positive signs for the Grits as they gather in Toronto for their annual general meeting.

Mindful that Wynnes political strength is in and around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, the Liberals have been polling in key ridings currently held by the Progressive Conservatives and NDP.

We wanted to see where our best opportunities were for growth, said a senior campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss strategy.

The insider said Friday the Liberals were encouraged by Wynnes showing against Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath in the eight opposition-held ridings tested.

In Toronto, the Gandalf Group polling obtained by the Star suggests the Liberals may fare well in TrinitySpadina, Davenport, ParkdaleHigh Park, and BeachesEast York, currently represented by New Democrats.

The telephone interview survey of 603 residents in those four ridings conducted earlier this month has a margin of error of 3.99 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Gandalf did not test the names of the local MPPs and candidates, instead using Wynne, Horwath, Hudak, and Green Leader Mike Schreiner to gauge voting intention.

In TrinitySpadina, represented by veteran Rosario Marchese, the Liberals were at 40 per cent, the NDP 19 per cent, the Tories 13 per cent, and the Greens 7 per cent.

In Davenport, held by rookie Jonah Schein, the Liberals had 37 per cent, the New Democrats 25 per cent, the Tories 7 per cent, and the Greens 4 per cent.

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Positive polls buoy Liberals as they prepare for spring election

The slogan, as Ontario Liberals gather this weekend in downtown Toronto for their annual general meeting, is What leadership is.

If they were honest with themselves, and each other, they might go instead with Lowered expectations.

From a brief, near-euphoric high after Kathleen Wynne took office last year, the governing party has come down a long way. Just how far is apparent both from the way the rookie Premiers pitch to her province has changed, and from what the Liberals are hoping their new message will achieve.

No longer is Ms. Wynne trying to sell herself as new and exciting, a different sort of politician willing to stake out bold policy positions to advance her values and vision. As laid out in a speech on Thursday night at her partys biggest yearly fundraiser, she is now making a case for remaining in office that is strikingly similar to the argument made in the last provincial election by Dalton McGuinty the predecessor from whom the new Premier not long ago seemed to seek a clean break.

Not once, not twice, but four times, Ms. Wynne referred to her safe hands. They are needed, she said, because its a turbulent word out there, and Ontario must stick with a careful, steady balance that allows slow but steady progress; it cannot afford the risky, radical approach of the Progressive Conservatives, or the risky indecision of the NDP.

The most obvious casualty of Ms. Wynnes new-found contempt for risks is her first big commitment after replacing Mr. McGuinty. This month, she announced she will not proceed with new gasoline, sales or personal taxes to fund expansion of Ontarios transportation infrastructure the policy with which she tried to establish her willingness to level with voters about the sacrifices needed to meet their collective needs.

But to listen to Ms. Wynnes speech this week was to detect a subtler climb-down as well.

During the leadership race, and shortly after winning it, Ms. Wynne spoke like the activist she has spent much of her life being arguing for social justice or a fair society. Those words may have rubbed some people the wrong way, but they were true to her roots.

While she delivered her text competently on Thursday, nobody would believe it came from her heart. From the attacks on the other parties to the touting of a six-point economic plan with repeated references to corporate subsidies to create jobs, it sounded like a checklist of items Ms. Wynnes advisers believe play well with key vote groups up to and including the pitch for a provincial public-pension plan that has replaced transit taxes as her signature policy.

None of this is meant to appeal to the province as a whole, or even to increase the Liberals support much.

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Liberals new message signals lowered expectations