Premier Dalton McGuinty is lashing out at his political foes over what he calls a smear attempt at the Liberal government over the lottery scandal.
McGuinty accused critics and opposition leaders of using innuendo to try and link his office to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming in the wake of a scathing ombudsman's report that found retailers bilked winners out of tens of millions of dollars.
Earlier this week Conservative Leader John Tory raised questions in the Legislature about the premier's former chief of staff and election campaign director, Don Guy, who attended a meeting where the lottery agency developed its strategy to deal with the scandal.
Tory suggested Guy had something to do with the public relations response, but Guy denied any such involvement.
"The opposition is going to do as much as it possibly can, engaging in innuendo and speculation and (using) sources that apparently cannot be identified," a frustrated McGuinty said on Wednesday.
"I can understand why they don't want to talk about the budget because I get the sense they support the provisions found within our budget."
The premier accused the opposition of not taking stances on other issues, and instead sticking with the lottery scandal to keep the attention of the public.
McGuinty says he is focusing on the ombudsman's recommendations to improve security and accountability in the lottery system.
Tory claims that the government treated the lottery issue as a communications problem and brought in top Liberal strategists, such as Warren Kinsella and Guy, to help develop a public relations campaign.
"Dalton McGuinty thinks this is a communications issue when people's money is being stolen,'' Tory said.
"Instead of fixing the problem, he sent in his political spin doctors to try and downplay the story.''
In a series of provincewide radio advertisements launched this week, the Conservatives accuse the McGuinty government of trying to "cover up" the scandal.
McGuinty also said Wednesday that he had no problem with Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino asking the Toronto police to investigate a possible conflict between the provincial force and the lotto agency.
A former OPP superintendent had been on secondment to the lottery corporation for years and there were suggestions that arrangement could pose a conflict for the OPP as it investigates the ombudsman's allegations of fraud by lottery retailers.
Meanwhile, Ombudsman Andre Marin says he has received another 130 complaints since he tabled his report nine days ago.
With a report from CTV's Paul Bliss and files from The Canadian Press
