Trevor Pritchard

Local News - Premier Dalton McGuinty says MPP Jim Brownell was just doing his job when he secured a $25,000 grant for the Lost Villages under what critics are calling a "slush fund" designed to reward Liberal supporters.

"His job is to stand up for his community and to support worthy causes, and I know that he's been working on that funding for three years," said McGuinty, speaking before last night's annual Children's Treatment Centre general meeting at the Best Western Parkway Inn in Cornwall.

"I'm proud he's done that."

On Thursday, after weeks of enduring daily attacks in the legislature, McGuinty bowed to opposition pressure and asked Ontario's auditor general to investigate $32 million in government grants given out to multicultural organizations.

Both the Conservatives and the NDP have charged the grants were awarded to groups headed by individuals with Liberal ties, particularly in the vote-rich Toronto area, without following the standard application process.

However, neither party has pointed the finger directly at Brownell, who has said he was able to secure the grant for the Lost Villages Historical Society - an organization he was president of for 12 years - after hearing about a funding opportunity during a speech in the legislature.

Brownell has acknowledged he was able to bypass the application process, but has remained adamant that his ties to the Lost Villages played no role in getting the funds from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration.

Earlier this week, Brownell told the Standard-Freeholder he intends to continue going after funding for local infrastructure and cultural programs "whether (he has) ties to the organization or not."

According to Conservative leader John Tory, calling in Auditor General Jim McCarter was the only way opposition parties would stop asking about the grants.

"Accountability is the issue here," Tory said outside of Queen's Park on Thursday. "The only way you are going to be able to satisfy the public their money is being well looked after is to have someone investigate who is independent, and that's what's being done."

NDP Leader Howard Hampton said the government was forced to cave in to demands for the auditor's investigation because details of the Liberal grant program were starting to resonate with the public.

"It is unseemly that $32 million could go out the door with no announced program, no formal application process, no criteria and no evaluation of what it was being used for."

When asked by a Standard-Freeholder reporter if the grant controversy would become an election issue this fall, McGuinty declined to make a prediction.

Instead, he hoped that McCarter would offer his "best advice" on how to better regulate a support program that impacts approximately 140,000 new immigrants to Ontario each year.

"It became apparent there was a real issue as to whether or not we believed in accountability and transparency," said McGuinty. "So today, I sent a letter to the auditor general."

Several Liberal members have said in the past weeks that the allegations over the funding are simply electioneering.

After McGuinty announced he would be calling on the auditor general to resolve the matter, the two opposition parties resumed their demands that Citizenship and Immigration Minister Mike Colle resign until the review is complete.

(With CP Files)