ABOVE: You wont’ believe how heated it got at Queen’s Park Tuesday over the energy minister’s “sexist” comments
TORONTO – Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli is facing demands to resign from the opposition after, what they’re calling, a “callous,” “patronizing” and “sexist” remark that the auditor general didn’t understand the complexity of the province’s energy system.
Christine Elliott, the frontrunner in the race to replace Tim Hudak as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party, implored Kathleen Wynne to fire Chiarelli for his “callous response.”
“Yesterday’s report showed a complete policy failure, a failure to respect Ontario taxpayers and a failure to take care of our most vulnerable citizens,” she said.
“The callous response from the energy minister cannot stand. Premier, signal to Ontarians that you truly believe in accountability, that you believe in priorities, that you recognize the human cost of your policies, and fire your energy minister.”
Wynne said she rejected the “premise of the comment and the question.”
“It is not unprecedented that there would be some area of disagreement between the government and the auditor general,” she said.
READ MORE: Highlights from the Auditor General’s report
Ontario’s auditor general released her annual report Tuesday which, among several other investigations, noted the province’s rollout of smart meters could cost roughly $1.9 billion – nearly $900 million more than originally budgeted.
Wynne disagreed with the auditor, suggesting she based her report on estimates rather than established costs.
But the controversy came when Chiarelli opined that some of the auditor’s staff didn’t fully grasp the complexity of the province’s energy system.
“Yesterday the minister of energy attacked the independent auditor general of Ontario. Frankly speaker I have never seen anything like this since I was elected to this legislature,” NDP leader Andrea Horwath said during Question Period Wednesday.
“Speaker, not only is that patronizing but that is sexist.”
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