politicians should not have free reign with our tax dollarshttps://www.thesudburystar.com/2013/10/09/mcguinty-regrets-gas-plant-costs McGuinty 'regrets' gas plant costs By Carol Mulligan, Sudbury Star Wednesday, October 9, 2013 2:04:14 EDT PM Dalton McGuinty (QMI Agency file photo) Dalton McGuinty (QMI Agency file photo) Dalton McGuinty apologized Wednesday for the rising cost of relocating two gas-fired electrical plants in Oakville and Mississauga, but said it was a decision agreed upon by all three political parties and it was the right thing to do. The former Ontario premier spoke with reporters in Elliot Lake after testifying at the last day of the commission of inquiry he called into the June 2012 collapse of the Algo Centre Mall. Two women, Dolores Perizzola and Lucie Aylwin, died in the disaster. McGuinty established the inquiry to find out what caused the roof of the three-storey mall to collapse and how a tragedy like that could be prevented from happening again. When asked about Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk’s revelation Tuesday that relocating the gas plants could cost taxpayers as much as $1 billion, McGuinty said he regretted that. But Liberals, Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats all agreed it was wrong to locate a gas plant the size of a hospital beside a hospital, a school and residences, he said. “I regret the fact it has cost so much, I regret the fact we hadn’t acted sooner as a government, but it’s right to relocate those plants,” he said. When asked if he would make the same decision knowing what the cost might be, McGuinty repeated that three parties thought it was wrong to locate them in those communities in the first place. “Again, I regret the fact that it’s cost so much, I regret the fact we didn’t act sooner.” Carol.mulligan@sunmedia.ca