On May 5, 2009, the "Toronto Star" newspaper ran a front-page story with allegations that two caregivers hired to look after Dhalla's mother had been illegally employed and mistreated. During a public forum with Ontario Liberal cabinet ministers Peter Fonseca and Kathleen Wynne present, the caregivers said that their passports were seized, they worked unpaid overtime, and they were forced to do non-caregiver jobs. Fonseca and Wynne faced accusations in the Ontario legislature that they covered up the incident, with Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath describing it as ""absolutely shocking" that the ministers did nothing to investigate these allegations. Premier Dalton McGuinty defended his ministers, while conceding that both of them "exhibited a bit of a tin ear".