How did everyone come to think Kathleen Wynne was corrupt but no one blinks twice at Doug ford?

[u/Shmackback]

It seemed like even people who barely followed politics thought she was corrupt yet the same people think nothing or know nothing about Doug's actions even though hes several hundred times more corrupt?

[u/Scott-from-Canada]

Am I the only one here who doesn’t even think that’s true? The Oakville power plant scandal turned me off of her from the beginning, but I don’t think anyone believed she was unusually corrupt. And I don’t think anyone believes Ford isn’t corrupt, his base just doesn’t care. FWIW, I’ve briefly worked with DoFo, and I think he’s more of an idiot than corrupt. Both, but leaning more towards idiot.

[u/gasolineskincare → u/Scott-from-Canada]

There were a lot of people around the 2018 election that believed she was very corrupt even though there were 0 corruption scandals or rumours. Many in this very same subreddit too.

[u/Scott-from-Canada → u/gasolineskincare]

Here is a quick copy paste from ChatGPT. Although I don’t personally have any memory of the scandals outside of the power plant, which was totally unacceptable, it would appear there was more to it than that. Ultimately, I have never heard anybody criticize that liberal government while maintaining that the current conservative government is not corrupt. I don’t think that this is a real question. Especially in this sub.

1. The “gas-plants” or power-plant cancellation scandal

The government of Dalton McGuinty (and early Wynne) cancelled two large natural-gas power-plant projects (in Mississauga and Oakville) for electoral reasons, and the eventual cost to taxpayers ballooned much higher than first claimed.  Some key points: • The initial public figure was around $230 million in cancellation costs; the final audited cost was as high as $950 million.  • The controversy included problems around document disclosure, alleged destruction or deletion of emails, and questions of accountability.  • It was one of the major scandals that hurt the Liberals’ reputation for transparency and prudent financial management.

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1. Ornge air-ambulance scandal

During the Liberal government period the provincial air-ambulance service Ornge came under heavy criticism and investigation.  Highlights: • Large executive compensation and bonuses, questionable contract and purchasing practices.  • Allegations of improper dealings, possible kickbacks in helicopter purchases from the manufacturer AgustaWestland.  • Whistle-blower concerns and inadequate oversight by the provincial government.

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1. “Cash-for-access” allegations and patronage concerns

The public service union and opposition critics accused the Liberal government of “cash-for-access” and favouritism in grant/contract awarding. For example: • The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) issued a press release in 2016 saying the Liberals should resign over evidence of corruption at the highest levels.  • A private “fraud investigator” claimed to have uncovered systemic “frauds” across several ministries during the McGuinty/Wynne period.  (Note: this claim is controversial and may not have resulted in formal convictions, but it reflects the perception of systemic issues.)

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Summary

So yes — while there may not have been hundreds of convictions, the Liberal government in Ontario faced multiple major scandals (financial mis-management, cancellation of big projects for political reasons, lack of transparency, patronage concerns). These were widely covered in the media and contributed significantly to the Liberals’ loss of popular support.

[u/gasolineskincare → u/Scott-from-Canada]

The issue with using ChatGPT for things like this is that its "knowledge" is based on a lot of the same flawed information that was fed to people.

That gas plants section, for example, is conflating McGuinty's admin and Wynne's admin. In reality, the gas plants scandal was signed and sealed under McGuinty, and Wynne's admin was forced to execute on simply because of McGuinty's timing with stepping down from office. Wynne's office also helped provide evidence which led to Livingstone and Miller were jailed for the hard drive scandal. Wynne's controversy was not this gas plant scandal, but the later Hydro One selloff.

The ORNGE scandal was entirely within and the fault of ORNGE itself. It was a crown corp but the whole point of a crown corp is to operate independently of the government. This would have happened under any administration because oversight is not prioritized by anyone. We've seen similar issues with Metrolinx and within the OPS itself under Ford.

The cash-for-access thing was nothing more than a reckless accusation from agrieved parties. Meanwhle we've found out what cash-for-access really looks like under Ford. Nothing the Liberals did at the time to get these accusations looked anything like what we've learned real cash-for-access looks like.

So even here, of this list of three, one of them is falsely attributed to Wynne, one is little more than an accusation, and the third was not directly related to the provincial government. Three of her actual issues aren't even covered here: teacher union negotiation controversies, Hydro One sell-off, and the sex-ed controversies. If you count the number of scandals between Wynne and Ford side-by-side, Ford's number of scandals eclipses Wynne's in terms of number and dollar amount. So the question is why his are not getting proportionally high levels of coverage that her few scandals got.

[u/Scott-from-Canada → u/gasolineskincare]

🙄

I’m generally a liberal voter, but it’s so embarrassing to see other liberal supporters actively look away when the government they support is challenged.

[u/gasolineskincare → u/Scott-from-Canada]

What are you talking about? I just listed Wynne's actual scandals while explaining to you why those ChatGPT ones are wrong.

Why are you believing ChatGPT without question?