'Billionaire Murderer' reveals new information into the Barry and Honey Sherman deaths

A Toronto journalist who reported on the Barry and Honey Sherman murders, including its troubled investigation, has released a book titled “The Billionaire Murders” documenting the mysterious deaths.

Kevin Donovan, chief investigative reporter with the Toronto Star, has interviewed crime experts, police officials and people close to the Apotex Inc. billionaire and his wife, to explain who the Shermans are and better understand what made people raise their eyebrows about the investigation in to their deaths.

“It’s a...gratifying feeling,” Donovan told Yahoo Canada. “This one has occupied about two years of my life, both writing stories for the Toronto Star and also doing extra research for the book.”

Donovan said his best moment since the book’s release is getting a phone call from Barry’s “best friend” who said the journalist was able to really capture the couple’s lives, telling him “you did it.”

Barry and Honey Sherman were found dead in their Toronto home on Dec. 15, 2017. Their bodies were found by a real estate agent in the basement pool area of their $6.9 million house, which was up for sale at the time. It is believed that they were killed two days before the bodies were first discovered.

During the initial investigation into their deaths, relatives of the couple and lawyer Brian Greenspan claimed it was being mishandled by Toronto police, resulting in the family putting together their own team of investigators to look into Barry and Honey Sherman’s deaths. The team of private investigators also implemented a reward of up to $10 million for any information to help solve the case.
Misstep in determination of deaths

Police initially deemed the Barry and Honey Sherman case a murder-suicide. Donovan was not involved in the initial reporting of the story, but was later assigned by the Toronto Star to investigate whether it was in fact a murder-suicide or a double murder.

“I cannot, as a reporter for 35 years covering crime, understand how they came to that assessment, but they did,” Donovan said.

Although the book’s author cannot know with full certainty why the working theory for the murders was incorrect at the outset, he has speculated that there are a few factors that could have possibly impacted the determination.

“There’s a couple of possibilities. One, that the officers who first arrived at the scene assessed the situation and decided that it was one of those awful, but not too rare, occurrences where a husband takes the life of his wife and then takes his own life,” Donovan said.

“I think that the police were also very busy with the...Bruce McArthur serial killer case that was in December of 2017, unknown to all of us in the public and the media, but police were closing in on that individual and I have to think that some of the people that probably might have been on the Sherman case...were called to other duties.”

In the book, Donovan documents the first 48 hours of the police investigation, critical in a homicide case, where police did not look at key pieces of evidence. This includes DNA and fingerprints, and security camera footage from Apotex and the house across the street from the Sherman’s home at 50 Old Colony Rd.

Back in Jan. 2018, Donovan reported, in story for the Toronto Star, that Dr. David Chiasson, formerly the chief forensic pathologist for Ontario, conducted a second autopsy at the request of the Sherman family. Chiasson concluded that it was a double homicide, contrary to the police’s initial theory. Following the release of Donovan’s article, Toronto police announced it was in fact a double murder.

Who were Barry and Honey Sherman?

The couple were two of the richest people in Canada, with an estimated net worth of over $4.7 billion. They have been recognized for their philanthropic efforts, donating millions of dollars to charities. But Donovan found that their social status impacted his ability to look into their murders.

When he began his investigation, he would tell individuals “in the Shermans’ circle” that he understands there is a “terrible loss,” but his intention is to chronicle the couple’s lives.

“It took about, I would say about four months to get people,” Donovan said. “They were acting like they were the Kennedy’s of Canada...acting like there should be some great secrecy, and I said, you know even with the Kennedy’s that family did speak.”

Donovan said that in all of his years as an investigative reporter, he has never encountered such “incredible privacy.”

“I think...that they were afraid that I would tell the truth, and the truth is that they were obviously very wealthy,...the family was not a happy family at time but Barry and Honey were very good people in their own respects, but they had their own human foibles,” Donovan said.

“That’s what I circle back to when the best friend called and says that you did it, what he’s saying is, you made...Barry and Honey look human and I thank you for that.”

Since 2018, the journalist has been trying to get documents from the Sherman estate unsealed. On Thursday, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in the Toronto Star’s favour to make the files public and now the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeal from the Sherman family.
The future of the investigation

Through his research and interviews for both the book and the Toronto Star, Donovan’s assumption at this point is that the murderer, or murderers, were familiar to the Shermans.

“I do not think it’s a case of organized crime, I don’t think it’s international espionage, I don’t think it’s a rival pharmaceutical firm and that’s because, I think there’s some significance to the fact that both of them were murdered,” Donovan explained.

He said that the way the bodies were staged, with Honey having injuries to her face and Barry sitting “in repose” with his glasses on his nose and one foot stretched out in front of the other, in addition to knowing the rare moment when they would both be home, also leads him to believe that someone who knew them was involved.

“To have them both home on that Wednesday evening, they were pretty busy people and I think you needed to know their schedule to know when they would be there,” Donovan said.

Despite the initial blunders by police, the journalist and book author does believe that we will see a resolution, based on the remarks made by a detective on the case who said police are “cautiously optimistic” that there will be some resolution in the near future.

Donovan also learned that police have obtained and analyzed a large amount of electronic data and detectives have requested more production orders and search warrants.

“I have a feeling, more than I’ve ever had in the last two years, that they are circling in on suspects or suspect,” Donovan said.

“The police have said to me in court that they have a theory of the case...they said they have an idea of what happened. I can’t imagine how you can have a theory of a case and an idea of what happened, and not have a suspect.”
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Andre Cunningham charged after 5 teens are shot at apartment building in west end

A 20-year-old man has been charged in connection with a shooting in the city’s west end that left five teenagers injured.

Around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, emergency crews were called to a building in the area of Clearview Heights Road, near Tretheway and Black Creek drives.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found five victims in the hallway of the low-rise building suffering from injuries ranging from serious to life-threatening.


Investigators said three male suspects arrived at the building in a black sedan, entered through a side door and started shooting at the teenagers.

Video obtained by CTV News Toronto Thursday appears to show three suspects, who were all wearing black, in a stairwell of an apartment building. Two of the suspects are seen in the video appearing to hold guns and opening fire. The video does not show the victims.

Police said that more than 20 shots were fired at the time.

Police said that the victims—a 16-year-old girl, a 17-year-old girl, two 16-year-old boys and an 18-year-old man—are expected to survive.

On Monday, police said that one suspect was taken into custody in connection with the incident.

Toronto resident Andre Cunningham is facing multiple charges, including five counts of attempted murder, five counts of discharging a firearm being reckless to the life or safety of another person and carrying a concealed weapon.

He is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Police said the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is being asked to contact police at 416-808-1200 or to reach out to Crime Stoppers anonymously.

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Man wanted in abduction of 8-year-old girl near Blaydon Public school in North York

Police are searching for a man wanted in connection with the abduction of an 8-year-old girl, who is now safe, near Blaydon Public School in North York.

According to police, it is reported that an 8-year-old girl was walking in the area around 3:30 p.m. on Friday when she was approached by a “strange” man who grabbed her, covered her mouth with his hand and dragged her 60 metres to an SUV.

Police said the man tried to force the girl into his SUV but she broke free and ran away. According to police, the girl located a parent she knew who contacted the police. She is now safe.

Around 8:50 p.m. on Friday, Toronto police responded to a call for a suspicious incident in the area of Langholm Dr. and Blaydon Ave., near the intersection of Sheppard Ave. W and Keele St.

Const. David Hopkinson said the police are considering the incident an abduction rather than an attempted abduction given that the man had possession of the girl before she broke free.

“It was only when the man took one hand off her to open the SUV door that she was able to escape,” said Hopkinson. “The period of time where the man lifted her off the ground and dragged her to the car is what we’re considering an abduction.”

The man was completely unknown to the girl, Hopkinson said.

He is described as white, between the ages of 40-50, 5’8” with a skinny build and short grey hair. Police say he was wearing a blue and pink t-shirt, grey sweat pants, and black dress shoes. He drove away in what is believed to be a red Mazda CX-5 with tinted windows, police say.

Police released security camera footage of the car. 
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Toronto making progress collecting unpaid money from condo developers

City of Toronto lawyers are making progress trying to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars owed by developers for community benefits after a city councillor and the media reached out to the debtors.

The progress totalling more than $200,000 comes months after the city lawyers advised councillors, in a confidential report, to write off the $700,000-plus tab as uncollectable, saying city staff had tried and failed to collect the money.

Councillor Josh Matlow said he’s glad that the city has resumed collection efforts because it needs all the revenue it can get. Also, he added, builders earning big money from Toronto’s growth need to honour agreements to pay community benefits in return for extra height and density on projects.

“I’m not going to opine on whether or not (city staff) tried hard enough to collect,” he said. “I’m convinced that they tried. My position, based on what I’ve experienced, and what I see is that it wasn’t enough.

“You don’t let developers off the hook when it comes to fulfilling agreements to contribute to our city’s most pressing priorities, including affordable housing. I’m happy to see that there are more efforts being made now to have those developers honour these agreements.”

In August members of the planning and housing committee got an update on city efforts to collect unpaid money pledged by developers under sections 37 and 45 of Ontario’s planning law. The update was triggered by a 2011 auditor general report urging city staff to do more to collect the revenue.

The public part of the report said successful collection efforts have recouped millions but just over $700,000 — pledged to help build parks, community centres, recreation facilities and other neighbourhood amenities, in return for city approvals for lucrative extra space in building projects between 2006 and 2013 — remained unpaid.

Matlow refused to reveal details of a confidential attachment that accompanied it. A source familiar with it, however, told the media that city legal first told committee members that all efforts had been made to collect the debt on the five condo projects and no further action was recommended.

Alarmed the city is owed badly needed revenue and realizing he knew one of the developers, Matlow reached out to Ron Herczeg of Soho Developments which built 359-377 Roehampton Ave.

The local newspaper also contacted Herczeg and used corporate records and other tools to identify and reach out to developers behind the other projects, some of which originally provided the city with contact information for a corporation set up specifically for that development.

Herczeg told Matlow and the media he had no idea about the outstanding $200,000 bill. “This project built by Roehampton Birch Properties was completed over 10 years ago. It is a little odd that we were made aware of this issue only many years later,” Herczeg wrote the paper in an email.

A new report that went to city council on Tuesday confirmed Herczeg is working with city staff to pay the debt, as is the firm that built 2388-2398 Lake Shore Blvd. W. and 13 Superior Ave., which owes less than $4,000 and also told the media it had no idea about its debt.

Earlier this month Joe Morano of Elm Developments told the newspaper he was unaware of an unpaid $180,000 bill for 695-717 Sheppard Ave. W. and vowed to look into it. Elm is now telling the city the development has been transferred to The Norstar Group so it should pay, the new report states.

City staff are reaching out to The Norstar Group, which did not respond to the medias request for comment.

The biggest debtor, Torbel Group, has not responded to any city inquiries over its unpaid community benefits bills of $180,000 for 695-717 Sheppard Ave. W. and $218,000 for 758-764 Sheppard Ave. W., the city report states.

The condo developer based on Champagne Dr. in North York has not responded to the medias requests for comment.

Ellen Leesti, a City of Toronto spokesperson, say city legal made “multiple efforts” to collect all the outstanding funds, including notices sent to addresses provided by developers in Section 37 agreements, and calls and emails made with information found through other research.

“The City is confident it did its due diligence in reaching out to the developers that owed funds and also recognizes the assistance from the local Councillor and the local newspaper in bringing these matters to the attention of individuals associated with the developers,” Leesti wrote.

Matlow is gratified collection efforts will continue — the legal department is reporting back in January on progress — and wants procedures around Section 37 agreements reviewed and tightened if needed to ensure developers are forced to pay everything they owe.

The councillor also has a message for those who don’t.

“The residents of Toronto need the funds that you committed toward their priorities that ensure these growing neighbourhoods remain livable, great places. Own up to your commitments.”

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Jump in Toronto food bank use

Food bank use in the Toronto region is growing as more people struggle with low incomes and the galloping cost of living, says the Daily Bread Food Bank.

In the year ending March 2019, food bank visits topped one million in Toronto and Mississauga, according to the annual Who’s Hungry report being released at Queen’s Park Monday.

After dipping in 2017-18, visits jumped by 4 per cent this year, double the rate of population growth in the area, adds the report, which for the first time includes food banks in Mississauga.

“The food bank is the canary in the coal mine,” said Daily Bread’s executive director Neil Hetherington. “That’s why this research is critically important. It is letting people know what is happening on the ground almost in real time.”

The annual survey of 1,400 food bank clients, conducted in March, tells the larger story of thousands of people living in a prosperous region who still struggle with hunger, he said in an interview.

“Low incomes and the rising cost of living mean that our neighbours are struggling more and more to put food on the table,” he said.

“Hunger is not a food issue, it’s an income issue. And it’s also a cost of living issue,” Hetherington added. “How do we reduce precarious employment, make sure individuals have appropriate disability and (welfare) support, access to affordable housing, transportation and child care? Those are the types of things we need to work on.”

Lack of affordable housing is a driver of both poverty and food insecurity in the Toronto region, the report notes.

Food bank users are spending an average of 6 per cent more on rent since last year while food costs in the Toronto area have increased by almost 8 per cent, the report says.

Almost all survey respondents reported incomes below Canada’s official poverty line, which in Toronto is defined as $41,362 for a family of two adults and two children.

About 53 per cent said they have skipped a meal to pay a bill, and 25 per cent of parents reported that their children go hungry at least once a month.

Although the median monthly income of survey respondents has not increased since last year, the percentage of income spent on rent and utilities for those living in private rental units has jumped from 68 per cent to 74 per cent.

It means they are left with just $7.83 per person, per day to spend on all other necessities, about 3 per cent less than last year, the report notes.

Toronto Food Bank user Stan Neatt struggles to get by on less than half that amount.

The former truck driver and downtown drop-in worker says he has “almost nothing” left from his monthly $1,300 Ontario Disability Support Program cheque after paying $1,200 in rent for a two-bedroom apartment he shares with a roommate.

“For me, the food bank is a necessity,” said Neatt, who moved to the apartment above a store on Danforth Ave. after he “lost everything” in a robbery a year ago.

“It’s pretty bad when you have to sleep with a hammer in your hand,” he said.

Neatt was forced to quit his job in late 2017 after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Surgery left him with short-term memory loss that has made it difficult to return to work, he said.

Although weekly food bank visits provide some fresh vegetables along with canned and dry goods, Neatt says he misses hamburger and “nice cuts of meat.”

“I’m just trying to stay healthy,” he said.

In addition to including Mississauga food bank visits, this year’s report uses a new database that allows Daily Bread to collect demographic information such as ethnicity, immigration status and even food preferences to better track trends and to see if policy interventions are making a difference.

Although expanding the scope of the report makes it more difficult to make comparisons to previous reports, Hetherington said he hopes this year’s analysis will provide a baseline for more nuanced information in the future.

The demographic profile of food bank users has remained steady, with working age adults between the ages of 19 and 44 and single individuals making up the largest group, according to the report.

About 57 per cent of survey respondents said they were living with a disability, more than twice the national average of 22 per cent.

Some 62 per cent of respondents are Canadian citizens born outside the country. But most of them have been living in Canada for more than 10 years, raising serious questions about barriers faced by longtime immigrants, Hetherington noted.

About 25 per cent of survey respondents identify as Black, compared to just 8 per cent of the Toronto population.

The over-representation of Black people using food banks points to a larger trend in the distribution of wealth in the Toronto region highlighted in a FoodShare report last month, Hetherington said.

To achieve a hunger-free city, the report is calling on the province to reform social assistance, strengthen legislation governing precarious employment and boost tenant protections. It urges both Ottawa and Queen’s Park to expand tax benefits for low-income households and provide more affordable housing and child care.

The report, which focuses on the right to food, praises Ottawa for introducing federal strategies on poverty reduction, housing and food policy in the past year. But it notes only the national housing strategy enshrines the right to housing in legislation. The federal government needs to take a similar approach to food, Hetherington said.

“Food is a basic human right, and our governments have a legal obligation to create an environment in which people have the physical and economic means to access adequate food,” he added. 

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Security video released of shots being fired at Vaughan house party

York Regional police have released security video of multiple shots being fired at a home on a residential street in Vaughan last week.

Just before 2 a.m. on Friday, emergency crews were called to a home on Cannes Avenue, in the area of Pine Valley Drive and Major Mackenzie Drive West, which was being rented out for a Halloween party.

Police said shots were fired into the home but no injuries were reported.

Bullet holes were also found in nearby vehicle.

Police said around 1:30 a.m. multiple people were shooting guns in the area. A part of the incident was captured by a neighbour’s security camera.

The video, which can be viewed below, shows three men in a four-door white sedan. Two men get out of the vehicle and fired more than 20 gunshots down the street.

A third man got out of the passenger seat of the car and got into the driver’s seat.

After the shooting, the suspects are seen getting back into the vehicle and driving away.

“It’s amazing that no one was injured or killed given the number of shots that were recklessly fired in this otherwise quiet neighbourhood,” Chief Eric Jolliffe said in a statement.

“We continue to see that there are people using short-term rental houses for parties and their guests are bringing handguns and violence to York Region. Those choosing to illegally use guns will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Investigators would like to speak with anyone who may have witnessed the shooting or who was driving in the area at the tine of the incident and may have dashcam footage that could assist in the case.

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Stabbing at Scarborough house party leaves teenager with serious injuries

A teenage boy is suffering from serious injuries after being stabbed at a house party in Scarborough overnight, police say.

Police received reports of an altercation between two groups of teenagers around 11:55 p.m. on Saturday at a house near Blue Anchor Tr. and Port Union Rd.

According to police, a teenage boy was stabbed and rushed to hospital by paramedics. He is in serious but non-life-threatening condition.

Police arrested one teenager. No charges have been made public.

The stabbing is the second to occur at a party of young people in the past week. On Thursday, five people were injured due to a stabbing at a fraternity in the Annex, and one of them has since succumbed to his injuries. Two teenagers were arrested and charged in connection with the incident.
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Youths charged in several Toronto-area robberies where victims were tied up

MISSISSAUGA—Two 16-year-olds are in custody following three recent store robberies in which victims were tied up.

Peel police say the robberies occurred over a week in late October.

They say masked suspects entered electronics stores in Mississauga, Aurora and Brampton.

The intruders zip-tied employees’ or customers’ hands, stole items, then fled in a stolen vehicle.

In one case, a customer was hurt in an altercation.

Police say the youths were arrested in Toronto last week and face robbery and other charges.
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Ali Showbeg, age 38, of Mississauga and Toronto Police

The man accused of pulling a handgun out of his pants in the back of a Toronto police cruiser is suing the city, police services board and others for $2 million for failing to prevent him from being shot in a separate, high-profile incident, according to court documents.

Earlier this week, several media outlets broadcast or posted online in-car police surveillance video capturing an impaired driving suspect squirming in the back of a moving cop car as he tried to extricate the pistol, prompting Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders to announce a two-pronged investigation into the circumstances and the leak.

Ali Showbeg, age 38, of Mississauga, faces nine criminal charges including eight firearm-related offences, including possessing a gun contrary to a prohibition order. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday. In 2006, he was convicted of multiple charges including four firearm-related offences and drug trafficking.

Showbeg is the plaintiff in a lawsuit that contains sweeping allegations that several defendants did not ensure there were adequate safety measures during rapper Drake’s OVO Music Festival after-party at the packed Muzik nightclub at Exhibition Place on Aug. 4, 2015.

The defendants all deny Showbeg’s allegations, saying they did take proper safety precautions and that they couldn’t have reasonably foreseen or prevented the shooting.

Two people died and several were wounded after gunfire erupted around 3 a.m.

In-car video shows a handcuffed suspect in the back of a Toronto police cruiser pulling a firearm out of his pants. Ali Showbeg is charged in connection with the incident.

No arrests have been made in the killings of Duvel Hibbert, 23, and Ariela Navarro-Fenoy, 26. Police have said Hibbert was the target and Navarro-Fenoy an innocent bystander. (Hibbert’s family is suing Muzik for $2.5 million, claiming there were inadequate security measures that evening — allegations denied in a statement of defence.)

According to Showbeg’s statement of claim filed in 2016 in Ontario Superior Court, he was a “lawful patron” attending the event when an unknown assailant shot him in the abdomen, “without any warning or provocation.” There’s no suggestion in the court documents that he had any connection to the two deceased victims, who were shot in different places in and outside the club.

A letter from Showbeg’s personal injury lawyer, Jwan Desai, filed in court says he suffered injuries from three gun shots. She did not return voice mails or email messages from the Star asking for comment about the lawsuit.

In his statement of claim, Showbeg says he suffered “serious and permanent injuries, including, but not limited to a diaphragmatic injury requiring surgical intervention, general bruising to his body, as well as a severe shock to his system. He has been subjected to a significant amount of pain, discomfort and personal distress.”

Showbeg’s lawsuit claims his injuries and resulting damages from the shooting were caused “by the joint and several negligence and breach of duty of the defendants.”

Named as defendants are the city, Toronto Police Services Board, Canadian National Exhibition Association, Hypnotic Clubs Ltd. (operating as) Muzik, October’s Very Own (OVO) Inc. — the company founded by Drake — security companies, and the unknown shooter, referred to as John Doe.

The statement of claim says the defendants had “full knowledge of the high-crime activity and of previous incidences of dangerous criminal activity at the premises, failed to initiate any procedures or have adequate security measures and/or equipment in place to ensure that patrons at or near the premises were reasonably safe.”

 Lawyers for the city, police board, CNE Association, Hypnotic Clubs Ltd., OVO, and a security company have all filed statements of defence that deny any liability for what happened to Showbeg, as well as filing cross claims. The statements of defence all contain similar responses to Showbeg’s allegations.

“Muzik pleads that all material times there was adequate and appropriate properly trained personnel and uniformed paid duty police officers in attendance at the premises and that there was an appropriate security protocol set up for patrons,” reads the statement of defence filed Dec. 20, 2018 by lawyer Robert Love of Borden Ladner Gervais. Love is also representing the City of Toronto and police board.

He declined to make any comment to the Star about Showbeg’s lawsuit. OVO’s lawyer, Iva Nishisato, who works at the same law firm, said he would look into the matter Thursday, but did not respond after that.

No one could be reached for comment at the CNE Association. But the association, made up of over 125 member organizations, denies all allegations. Its statement of defence says there is “no reasonable cause of action against them,” and denies the shooting could have been “foreseen or prevented.” It, like the others, is asking the lawsuit be dismissed with costs awarded to the defendants.

The Toronto Police Services Board’s statement of defence, filed by a city solicitor prior to Love taking over the file in 2019, says if a court finds the defendants should have foreseen or prevented the shooting, “which is not admitted but expressly denied, then these defendants state that the Plaintiff caused or contributed to his own death by not taking precautions as to his own safety, by moving from a position of safety to danger.” City lawyer Glenn Chu did not return the Star’s request for comment.

Muzik has since closed its’ doors at Exhibition Place.
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Cash grab prompted Tories' sale of Hwy. 407

Ontario taxpayers paid a much higher price for the privatization of Highway 407 than they imagined. They lost the chance to have a highway virtually for free.

The Mike Harris government turned down an offer by a development consortium to extend the world's only electronic toll highway, which runs across the top of Toronto, all the way to Highway 35/115, east of Oshawa, at no cost.

The offer would have saved the government up to $1.5-billion in construction costs and cut travel times for commuters in the eastern half of the Toronto region, as well as to and from Eastern Ontario.

Instead, according to government sources and confidential documents obtained by The Globe and Mail, the Progressive Conservatives sold off the existing highway to another bidder who was prepared to pay more money up front, money the Tories desperately needed to finance their campaign promises.

The same cabinet ministers who made the decision to turn down a free road are in charge of the government's much-vaunted SuperBuild program, which aims to match $10-billion of public money with private investment to improve the province's infrastructure.

Yet the decision-making process revealed in the 407 sale raises questions about whether the Harris Tories are committed to long-term planning or short-term expediency.

As the Ontario Conservatives approached the fourth year of the Common Sense Revolution, their re-election prospects appeared far from certain.

The Liberals under Dalton McGuinty were ahead in the polls. Although those polls suggested most people believed the Tories were "on the right track" with their program of tax and spending cuts, education reform and tighter welfare rules, voters feared the government had mismanaged health care: firing nurses, angering doctors, ordering hospitals closed and letting services deteriorate. Tory strategists needed to reverse the impression that the government was starving the health sector of money. They were equally anxious to provide a further round of tax cuts as the centrepiece of their Blueprint election-campaign platform.

The solution was to sell off the brand new Highway 407. The electronic-toll expressway had cost the government $1.5-billion to build, with those costs to be recouped through tolls. But selling the road off to a private company, which would then collect the tolls, would bring hundreds of millions of dollars into the treasury -- enough for both a short-term cash injection to health-care funding and for a tax cut -- without jeopardizing the government's deficit-reduction goals.

In October of 1998 the requests for offers went out. Bidders were instructed to consider four options. Option One asked them how much they were willing to pay for the existing road, plus two extensions that they would be required to build. Options Two and Three lengthened the eastern extension of the road, with Option Four taking it all the way to Highway 35/115.

Finance Ministry officials estimated private consortiums would be willing to pay about $2.5-billion under Option One.

A ministry memorandum advised that bids for Options Two, Three and Four would be lower, "as the projected toll revenues may not cover the cost of construction if the highway is extended to its ultimate length." Extending the 407 all the way out to Highway 35/115, according to government estimates, would cost the new owner up to $1.5-billion.

For that reason, Finance Ministry officials expected the Cabinet Committee on Privatization, which would choose the winning bid, to go with Option One.

"If CCOP opts for a privatization scope that extends highway construction farther to the East, and that results in a lower sale price than the overall top bid, CCOP would in effect be making an implicit expenditure decision to invest the difference in highway construction," the memorandum advised.

In other words, accepting a lower bid for a longer highway would mean there would not be money to spend on other things. And Finance Minister Ernie Eves and the Tory campaign strategists planned to spend the Highway 407 profits on health and tax cuts, not new roads.

At auctions, a bid that's completely out of line with what's expected is called an outlier. On March 28 of last year, the day the 407 bids arrived, the government received a doozy of an outlier for the 407. Three consortiums bid to take the 407 off the government's hands. Two of the bids were predictable. They offered between $2.4-billion and $2.8-billion under Option One. If the government decided to go with Option Four, the offers dropped to as low as $1.2-billion.

But a third offer shocked everyone. A consortium led by Woodbridge Co., the holding company for the Thomson family, which owns The Globe and Mail, not only put in the highest bid for Option One -- $2.805 billion -- it was also willing to pay $25-million more for the right to extend the 407 out to Highway 35/115. The Woodbridge consortium was clearly gambling that the revenues from the extended road would be higher than the government predicted, ensuring that the company would make, not lose, money on the extension.

When CCOP met March 30 to choose a winning bid, most participants were certain the Woodbridge bid was a slam dunk. Not only would the government be getting the Highway 407 extension for free, the road would greatly benefit the constituents in the ridings held by Management Board Chairman Chris Hodgson and then social services minister Janet Ecker, two members of the five-member committee.

But when Mr. Eves, the most powerful politician in the Ontario government after Mr. Harris, arrived at the meeting, he insisted that the committee must reject the bid on the extension. (None of the members of the committee, including Mr. Eves, knew the identities of the bidders.)

The other cabinet ministers initially opposed Mr. Eves's decision. Transportation Minister Tony Clement joined Mr. Hodgson, Ms. Ecker and Privatization Minister Rob Sampson in pushing for the extended road, arguing it would greatly ease traffic gridlock in the eastern half of the Greater Toronto Area, while promoting growth and development in satellite cities from Pickering to Clarington.

Mr. Eves countered by pointing out that Woodbridge's Option One bid had a special notation beside it.

Under the complex rules of the competition, if the two top bids in one option were within 5 per cent of each other, and that option was chosen by the committee, the government could invite the two top bidders to bid again. The notation signalled there was another bid within 5 per cent under Option One. Mr. Eves and the rest of cabinet committee therefore knew that choosing Option One could create a bidding war that would maximize the immediate profits from the sale. In essence, Woodbridge and a consortium headed by Grupo Ferrovial, a Spanish construction company, would both have to up their bids if they wanted the highway. The extra money could be used to further increase funding for health care, to finance a second round of tax cuts and to keep the government on track to eliminate its deficit on target.

Faced with an adamant Mr. Eves, who is not only Finance Minister but a close personal friend of the Premier, the other cabinet ministers acquiesed.

The bidding war was ultimately won by the Grupo Ferrovial consortium, which paid $3.1-billion for the existing highway and the extensions to Brock Road and Highway 403.

"The final decision was based solely on the highest price," stated Mr. Sampson the day of the announcement. "We are told it is a tremendous example for other jurisdictions to follow." Shortly after, Mr. Eves brought down a budget that focused on increased funding for health and a new round of tax cuts. The next day Mr. Harris called the election.

All the ministers present at the cabinet meeting, along with officials at Woodbridge, declined to be interviewed for this story.

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