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The port authority row

The brouhaha over the Toronto Port Authority has sometimes been portrayed as a proxy battle over the Island airport, its prized possession. That is a mistake.

At issue is not whether the Island airport should be allowed to expand – or to build a tunnel to the mainland. Rather, it is the governance of the authority, a tripartite body appointed by the federal, provincial and municipal governments. As Liberal MP Paul Szabo said in Parliament last week, "There is fiscal mismanagement on hospitality and other expenses; doctoring board minutes to cover up political interference and gross mismanagement; a feuding, dysfunctional board; unauthorized use of government offices for political fundraisers; and the list goes on." Szabo is not a foe of the Island airport.

Furthermore, some disgruntled past members of the port authority's board are airport supporters. Indeed, one of them, Christopher Henley, describes himself as a "huge fan" of the Island airport. Yet he and three other board members wrote Auditor General Sheila Fraser last June to ask her to investigate the port authority over their concerns about "proper governance and fairness, honesty and integrity."

Unfortunately, Fraser's mandate does not extend to port authorities. Under the Auditor General Act, cabinet could ask her to go beyond her normal mandate, but so far the Conservatives have resisted opposition demands to do so.

That leaves the matter up to a parliamentary committee – such as Szabo's ethics committee – to call port authority directors and executives, past and present, to account. The opposition MPs should not hesitate to use their committee majority to make it happen.