A lawyer in Ontario has filed a lawsuit against the government and a litigant over a $4.7-million payout he claims the government made to litigants, including a $500,000 payment in October, the CBC News Network has learned.
The lawyer, who cannot be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, says the payout is part of a larger government strategy to keep litigators in the dark about the details of their cases.
The lawsuit filed in the Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday alleges that the payout, as well as other payments to litigators, breaches a promise the government gave litigados they would get a fair trial.
It also alleges the payout violates a promise by the province to “reimburse litigat[y] from the proceeds of [the] lawsuit settlement,” a reference to the $5.6-billion settlement of claims made by Ontario and British Columbia after a series of pipeline spills in 2014.
The province, which owns the LNG plants that produced the gas, has repeatedly refused to disclose the details.
A spokesperson for Premier Kathleen Wynne says the government is working to get more details.