Finding a politician in contempt is not a frequent action taken in the legislature since it essentially means the Minister in question intentionally misled the other members of the legislature.

Energy Minister Chris Bentley had just been found in contempt of the Ontario Legislature in early October, just a few days before McGuinty announced his resignation and, almost more significantly, the prorogation of the legislature. Prorogation means that all business at the Ontario Legislature comes to a halt, all bills are scrapped, and they'll start from scratch in 2013. Since the Ontario Legislature is prorogued until January, any MPP facing a contempt/committee hearing is off the hook, for now. That includes two London politicians who are facing legislative repercussions, namely the Ontario Minister for Health, Deb Matthews, and Minister Bentley.

London MPP Chris Bentley had the dubious honour of being appointed as the Minister of Energy by former Premier Dalton McGuinty barely a year ago and that was all the time it took for him to be successfully voted in contempt for the suppression of documents relating to Ontario power plant closures. The opinion that McGuinty's resignation was to avoid being called to testify at the committee against Bentley continues to gain traction based mostly on the fact that the closure decisions and documentation were in existence long before his appointment. The party discipline exercised at both federal and provincial levels would prevent Bentley from stepping back from the issue and placing the blame on the individuals actually at fault.

The contempt motion against Bentley is a bigger deal than many Ontarians are aware of because it's the first time a provincial Minister has actually been found in contempt. Fanshawe Political Science professor Matt Farrell weighed in on the issue. "Contempt's one of those wishy-washy concepts in parliament … it's one of those things that's subject to interpretation." When asked what kind of discipline Bentley could face, Farrell responded, "Because of the dynamics of the minority government, any committee is going to have a majority of opposition members on it, so they are going to have a propensity (inclination) to convict. He can face some jail time and a monetary fine, but these kinds of cases are so rare that that's unlikely. He'll probably just face censure from parliament and possibly the removal of his speaking privileges, something of that nature."

None of this means that Bentley will necessarily even lose his job, but since the Energy Minister is a generally unpopular post, he's unlikely to ever pose a political threat again. It was no secret that the reign of Premier McGuinty was going to end sooner rather than later in light of his nine years in office and three tiring elections and, for a while, Bentley was seen as a potential successor. That popularity will likely never reach the level required for a serious shot at provincial leadership in the wake of the first successful contempt motion in Ontario history. Bentley is safe for now, but come January, the opposition plans to pass the motion as soon as the legislature reconvenes.
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