Kathleen Wynne is sworn in as the 25th premier of Ontario at Queen's Park on June 24, 2014. A recent documentary on the planning of the 2015 Ontario budget was scrapped by network TVO.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
The director of a behind-the-scenes documentary on Kathleen Wynne, who quit over journalistic concerns, says the Ontario Premier personally invited her to film scenes in Sudbury, where Liberal officials are now being investigated for election bribery.
Roxana Spicer, a veteran journalist and filmmaker, says this is the first time in her long career, which includes films for the investigative program the Fifth Estate, that she has stepped down from a project. It is also the first time she has been associated with a film that has been cancelled by the broadcaster.
"I didn't have a choice," she told The Globe and Mail Friday.
Ms. Spicer resigned May 5. She had mostly completed the 59-minute film – it was edited and nearly locked down. Bound by a confidentiality agreement, she would not get into exact details about why she left.
"It became very clear to me that I could not complete this project with the journalistic integrity and independence that the project demanded," she said. "That became crystal clear to me at the beginning of May."
She was hired in January by White Pines Pictures,which is run by well-known Canadian documentary-maker Peter Raymont. He did not return a call seeking comment.
The documentary, which was about Ms. Wynne and the leadup to the 2015 Ontario budget, was to air on TVO in June.
But now TVO is demanding White Pines Pictures return a $114,075 advance, saying in a statement that a documentary "consistent with TVO's journalistic standards for editorial integrity, independence and quality … was not delivered."
Ms. Wynne's office confirmed Friday her officials reviewed between eight and nine minutes of the film – and they had problems with the scope of the documentary.
The Premier's spokeswoman, Zita Astravas, said they had spoken with Mr. Raymont about the parameters of the film. She said it was to be a behind-the-scenes look at the preparation of the budget.
"Over the course of the filming, we had concerns the project was deviating from those original parameters in a number of areas," Ms. Astravas wrote in an e-mail.
She said there was a "clear understanding" the Premier's office would have no editorial control but "would be allowed to review portions of the film with government lawyers for issues like breaches of cabinet confidentiality or privacy legislation."
There are reports Ms. Wynne's officials were worried about portions focusing on the scandal over bribery allegations related to the Feb. 5 Sudbury by-election.
Ms. Spicer says she was hired to "do the best job I could to tell a truthful story."
"The way that the project was presented to me was that this was going to be not only a behind-the-scenes documentary project about the machinations leading up to the 2015 budget but that it would also include an inside look at the controversial by-election in Sudbury," she explained.
Ms. Spicer said she met twice with Ms. Wynne before filming started – and the Premier personally invited her to film in Sudbury.
"So the Sudbury by-election was always considered to be part and parcel of a story," she said. "And it happened to fall within that 100 days leading up to the actual drafting of the 2015 provincial budget."
In addition, to being invited to Sudbury, Ms. Spicer says that everyone who participated in the film did so knowingly and consented to wearing radio mics.
"There was no surreptitious shooting in the film and I treated my interview subjects as I always do, with the utmost respect," she said.
Ms. Wynne was questioned by OPP last month about the scandal. Two senior Liberals – her deputy chief of staff, Patricia Sorbara, and Gerry Lougheed, a Sudbury businessman and Liberal fundraiser – are facing allegations by police that they offered a government job to a former Liberal candidate, Andrew Olivier, in exchange for him giving up his bid for the party's nomination in the by-election.
The Liberals wanted him to step aside for Glenn Thibeault, who was the federal MP for Sudbury, at the time. Mr. Thibeault won the by-election.
Ms. Wynne said Friday she did not see any footage from the film, was not part of any conversations about the scope of the documentary and only found out Thursday the project was not going ahead.
She told reporters she thought the documentary was to update one that had been made about the Bill Davis years – and would inform "young people and the community on how government works and that was the scope of the project."
Her opposition critics, however, accused her of running a closed government.
"This Premier has talked about the need for open and transparent government," said PC leader Patrick Brown. "The stifling of the TVO documentary on her government appears to be yet another example of her showing she doesn't really believe in the transparency she likes to talks about."
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called it "worrisome" that "the most transparent and open Premier in the history of the world has decided she doesn't want this film to see the light of day."