The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has approved Trillium Power Wind Corp.'s request to amend its statement of claim against the Government of Ontario to include the claim of spoliation – a legal term referring to ‘the willful destruction or suppression of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding.’
Trillium Power is seeking damages of $500 million for misfeasance in public office – including the deliberate destruction of evidence contained in the government's computers.
Trillium says the government cancelled its far-offshore wind projects just hours before the company was set to complete a $26 million equity financing. TPW1, Trillium Power's most advanced far-offshore wind development in eastern Lake Ontario, is approximately 28 kilometers from the mainland.
‘We were shocked to recently find proof that there was a willful destruction of evidence more than one year after Trillium Power sued the Government of Ontario,’ explains John Kourtoff, president and CEO of Trillium Power. ‘We strongly believe that this is both an attack on the administration of justice and on our carefully balanced evidentiary-based legal system.
‘What has been perpetrated here is an affront to the sensibilities of all Ontarians. Given recent disclosures of the destruction of information regarding the gas plants, we intend to aggressively pursue this ongoing action and to consider additional legal steps.
‘The Premier of Ontario has to decide if she wants to resolve this matter, which is a litmus test for Canadian and international investors, as well as for the rule of law in Ontario,’ Kourtoff says.
‘The attack by the Government of Ontario on Trillium Power destroyed thousands of well-paying and sustainable manufacturing, construction, engineering, operations and maintenance jobs scheduled to come to Ontario,’ Kourtoff says. ‘Furthermore, we contend that Ontario's actions were designed to benefit a far-less advanced foreign-owned applicant at the expense of Trillium Power."
Trillium's lawyer, Morris Cooper, expects the case will be set for trial by the end of August and heard in early 2016.
