1 2 3 TORONTO COMPUTER LEASING INQUIRY 4 5 6 7 ******************** 8 9 10 BEFORE: THE HONOURABLE MADAM JUSTICE DENISE BELLAMY, 11 COMMISSIONER 12 13 14 15 16 Held at: East York Civic Centre 17 850 Coxwell Avenue 18 Toronto, Ontario 19 M4C 5R1 20 21 ******************** 22 23 24 September 30th, 2002 25

1 APPEARANCES 2 3 Ronald Manes )Commission Counsel 4 Patrick Moore ) 5 Diana Groskaufmanis ) 6 7 8 Robert Centa )City of Toronto 9 Lily Harmer ) 10 Linda Rothstein (np) ) 11 12 Fraser Berrill )MFP 13 David Moore ) 14 Ken Jones ) 15 16 Melissa Kronick )CUPE 17 18 Raj Anand )Lana Viinamae 19 Bay Ryley ) 20 21 William Anderson )Wanda Liczyk 22 23 Joyce Ihamaki )Registrar 24 25

1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 Page No. 3 4 Comments by Madam Commissioner 4 5 6 Certificate of Transcript 9 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

1 --- Upon commencing at 10:00 a.m. 2 3 THE REGISTRAR: Order. The Inquiry is now in 4 session. Please be seated. 5 MADAM COMMISSIONER: Good morning. Welcome 6 to the opening session of the Toronto Computer Leasing 7 Inquiry. My name is Denise Bellamy and I'm a Judge of the 8 Superior Court of Justice in Ontario. I've been appointed by 9 the Chief Judge of that court to be the Commissioner of this 10 independent inquiry. 11 Toronto City Council voted unanimously to hold 12 this Inquiry. The terms of reference they gave me can be 13 found on the City's web-site or on ours at 14 www.torontoinquiry.ca. 15 Briefly, the terms of reference call for a 16 judge to examine what happened with respect to certain 17 computer and software leasing contracts between the City of 18 Toronto and MFP Financial Services and between the City and 19 Oracle Corporation. 20 By calling for a Judicial Inquiry, city 21 council purposely took the matter out of their own hands and 22 they asked that an outsider conduct an independent and 23 impartial inquiry and do so in public. 24 I interpret that to mean that council and the 25 Mayor were concerned enough to want to uncover the truth and

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  1  to receive useful recommendations with respect to the terms
  2  of reference.  
  3                 Public Inquiries are important components of
  4  Canadian society.  Traditionally they play a key role in fact
  5  finding and in educating and informing concerned members of
  6  the public.  They also play a role in restoring public
  7  confidence in governmental institutions.  
  8                 In the end, they make recommendations that are
  9  designed to ensure that the problem that gave rise to the
 10  Inquiry will not happen again.  
 11                 Having said that, it is important to
 12  understand what a public inquiry is and what a public inquiry
 13  is not.  A public inquiry is an investigation into a matter
 14  of substantial public interest to a community.  An inquiry
 15  has the power to summons witnesses, to compel the production
 16  of documents, and to accept evidence.
 17                 However, it is not a trial.  No one is charged
 18  with any criminal offence.  No one is being sued.  As a
 19  Commissioner, I have no right to find anyone guilty of a
 20  criminal offence nor can I establish civil responsibility for
 21  damages.  The distinction between a public inquiry and a
 22  trial will be important to keep in mind for reasons I will
 23  give shortly.  
 24                 Throughout the summer, Commission Counsel have
 25  worked diligently preparing for this day so that we would be

1 in a position to start this Inquiry on schedule. They 2 collected thousands of documents. They consulted experts and 3 interviewed about a hundred witnesses, many of them more than 4 once. 5 Many of the other people in this room have 6 also been working extremely hard to prepare for today. 7 Despite this, for the following reasons, I have concluded 8 that I must adjourn this Inquiry. 9 Last week Commission Counsel uncovered new 10 information that if true could result in criminal charges 11 being laid against one or more potential witnesses to this 12 Inquiry. We contacted the police and brought the existence 13 of these allegations to their attention. 14 In my view, the public interest required that 15 this be done. The Ontario Provincial Police has now begun a 16 criminal investigation into the alleged wrongdoings. Late 17 Friday, I received a request from the Commissioner of the OPP 18 asking that the Inquiry not proceed during this critical 19 initial stage of the police investigation. 20 After carefully considering this over the 21 weekend, I have decided that the request is reasonable and I 22 will agree to it. I am well aware that the very existence of 23 this Inquiry has created a great deal of stress for many 24 people, that their lives have been, and will now continue to 25 be, in limbo.

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  1                 However, as Commissioner it is my obligation
  2  to ensure that the hearings are as public as possible, while
  3  maintaining the essential rights of individual witnesses
  4  whose activities may be scrutinized in the course of the
  5  police investigation.
  6                 For the following two (2) important reasons, I
  7  have decided that it would not be in the public interest to
  8  proceed with the Inquiry at this time.  First, I want to
  9  ensure that the interests of those individuals whose right to
 10  a fair trial, should it come to that, are not detrimentally
 11  affected by the Inquiry's process.  
 12                 Second, at this juncture, I do not believe the
 13  Inquiry should impede or otherwise interfere with the early
 14  stages of the criminal investigation.
 15                 The OPP has agreed to provide me with a status
 16  report of their investigation within two (2) weeks.  At that
 17  time, I will reassess the situation and will decide whether
 18  this Inquiry should continue to be delayed any further.
 19                 After I leave today, Commission Counsel Ron
 20  Manes, the one sitting in the middle, will be available to
 21  answer questions from the media.  I know you'll understand
 22  that given the police investigation he must necessarily be
 23  circumspect in his responses to you and I hope you'll respect
 24  that.
 25                 The other Commission Counsel, Pat Moore and

1 Diana Groskaufmanis, are available to meet immediately with 2 counsel for the parties with standing. Or, if counsel for 3 the parties with standing prefer to stay here while Mr. Manes 4 answers any questions that the media may have, they can do 5 that as well and then meet afterwards in -- in the Inquiry's 6 boardroom. 7 We will keep them apprised of any new 8 developments that we are in a position to share with them. 9 As well, I have directed our media contact, Peter Rehak, to 10 update our web site regularly and to continue to cooperate 11 with the media to ensure that the public is kept informed. 12 Our web site, as I mentioned earlier, can be found at 13 www.torontoinquiry.ca. 14 In the meantime, I can assure you that I am 15 committed to continuing the Inquiry as soon as it is feasible 16 to do so. The Inquiry is adjourned until further notice and 17 I thank you. 18 THE REGISTRAR: Order. The Inquiry is 19 adjourned until further notice. 20 21 --- Upon adjourning at 10:07 a.m. 22 23 24 25

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Certified correct, 9 10 11 12 _______________________ 13 Wendy Warnock 14 Court Reporter 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25