Elliot Lake Inquiry to cost taxpayers $15M
More than $6M has already been spent by commission looking into collapsed mall
The CBC has learned what the province is spending on the Elliot Lake public inquiry.
According to and e-mail sent to Radio-Canada from the Ministry of the Attorney General, the inquiry has already cost tax payers more than $6 million — an amount that is expected to more than double.
Included in the inquiry’s overall budget of $15 million are the Commission’s operational costs.
The Commissioner, Justice Paul Belanger, will earn more than $288,000 annually for his role — an amount that aligns with the salary for a senior judge.
The eight lawyers hired on the commission council are each are being paid between $120 and $390 per hour.
The bulk of the money already spent by the inquiry was to set up the office and hearing room in Elliot Lake.
The hearings are scheduled to last for several more months.
Inquiry costs over the years
- Walkerton Inquiry: $9.7 million, the 2000 inquiry examined the contamination of the water supply in Walkerton.
- Ipperwash inquiry: $29.5 million, the 2003 inquiry examined the circumstances surrounding the death of Dudley George, who was shot and killed by a police officer after a protest in 1995.
- Cornwall inquiry: $53 million, the 2005 inquiry spent several years looking into how authorities responded to long-running incidences of sexual abuse of young people.