Liberal Screwup Roundup, Sept 16th

And now, for today's stories you won't see in the Globe and Mail or the Star.

First, it's lights out for Dalton in Scarborough:

The solar energy company touted this week by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty as a flagship of the province’s clean energy economy has halted production because of slow demand.

Mr. McGuinty was flanked by Eclipsall Energy Corp.’s workforce when he visited its Scarborough solar panel plant Tuesday, but there was no mention that the production line is temporarily shut down. When my colleague Tamsin McMahon visited the plant she found the reception desk was empty, the cafeteria was closed and only a handful of employees milling around inside the sparsely furnished building.

That sounds like colossal fraud. Speaking of fraud:

A taxpayer-funded environmental group is starting a television advertising campaign Friday that supports the province's green energy policy without registering as a third party, an apparent violation of the province's election finances laws.

The only party opposed to the policy is the Progressive Conservative party.

The two ads by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association draw attention to the province's green energy policy, which offers rich subsidies to wind and solar producers who agree to strict domestic content provisions, and asks voters to support it in the election.

Failing to register, huh? Speaking of things failing to register:

Rookie Liberal candidate Sarah Thomson learned a tough political lesson Thursday. 

It’s never a good thing when your party leader is asked about something you said that appears to deviate from the campaign platform. 

Thomson, the former Toronto mayoral hopeful now seeking to unseat veteran New Democrat Rosario Marchese in Trinity-Spadina, told the Annex Gleaner that McGuinty met with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and she mused about the possibility of the Grits bankrolling additional child-care spaces in the city. 

“It’s not true . . . it’s not true,” the Liberal leader said in Thunder Bay.

Sounds like Ms. Thomson is dragging down the Liberal brand! Speaking of dragging down the Liberal brand:

Niagara Falls Liberal MPP Kim Craitor is coming under fire from some of his rivals for not clearly stating his party affiliation on his lawn signs.

"Mr. Craitor, do you believe in what your party has done in the past four years and do you believe in what they are proposing in the next four years?" Progressive Conservative candidate George Lepp asked Craitor during a debate in Niagara-on-the-Lake Wednesday.

"And if so, why isn't there any indication on your signs of your party that you represent?"

Looks like the wheels are coming off the Liberal bus! That is, if the bus wasn't already a casualty of the war on the car.