Ex McGuinty aide faces sentencing hearing today over deleted gas plant files

TORONTO – A Toronto judge is expected to hear arguments today about an appropriate sentence for a former top political aide caught up in the province’s so-called gas plants scandal.

The prosecution has already said it wants David Livingston, who was former premier Dalton McGuinty’s chief of staff, sent to jail.

The defence says jail would be outrageous for a first-time offender.

Ontario court Judge Timothy Lipson found Livingston guilty last month of illegal use of a computer and attempting to commit mischief to data.

Livingston had wiped computers of information the law required should have been kept.

That information related to the Liberal government’s costly cancellation of two gas plants before the 2011 election.