Ont Tories, NDP want transport minister fired for breaking integrity rules; McGuinty refuses

TORONTO — Ontario opposition MPs are calling for Transportation Minister Harinder Takhar to be fired from provincial cabinet after a report by the integrity commissioner concluded the minister has broken the Members’ Integrity Act.

According to various media, Integrity Commissioner Coulter Osborne’s seven-month investigation charged Takhar as being “egregiously reckless” for not cutting ties to his former business — off-highway suspension manufacturer Chalmers Group — after being elected to office.

Takhar also failed to disclose that his riding association treasurer Joseph Jeyanayagam is his trustee at Chalmers and was also the company’s CFO, according to the report.

“(Takhar) showed an error in judgment, that is negligence,” Osborne said.

Last June, a Toronto Sun report revealed that Takhar was still involved in workplace activities. He was seen visiting the Mississauga company for hours, speaking with employees and with the company CEO, who is also his wife. He also had his own reserved parking spot at the company, according to the Sun report.

The Integrity Act requires cabinet ministers to avoid conflict of interest by placing private business interests in “blind trust” at “arm’s length” from the ministers. “A member of the Executive Council shall not hold or trade in securities, stocks, futures or commodities unless they have entrusted the assets to one or more trustees who shall not consult with the member with respect to managing the trust property,” states Section 11 of the Integrity Act.

At that time, both Takhar and Premier Dalton McGuinty denied the minister did anything wrong and dismissed Tory and NDP members’ calls for the minister to step down.

McGuinty said on June 17 that it would be appropriate for a minister to resign if it became “clear that a rule had been broken.

Yesterday, however, the Premier changed his tune and refused to fire Takhar.

“It is clear the minister demonstrated a lapse in judgment in this circumstance,” McGuinty said in a press release, adding that he continues to have confidence in the minister.

In a separate statement, Takhar apologized for what he also called “an error in judgment.”

Conservative leader John Tory said this is the first time in the province’s history that the integrity commissioner had formally reprimanded a cabinet minister.

“It is clear that Minister Takhar has breached the Members’ Integrity Act and Dalton McGuinty should ask him to resign,” said Tory. “It is beyond the powers of the Integrity Commissioner to remove Mr. Takhar from cabinet — that is the Premier’s job,” said Tory.

— with files from the Toronto Star and Toronto Sun