A recent Ontario’s Auditor General confirmed that Dalton McGuinty’s government has been responsible for a lot of waste – and that led to an attack by two opposition leaders.
The auditor confirmed that the problems that plagued eHealth, a $1-billion waste exercise, has spread through other ministries and agencies.
For example, the Auditor found that nearly half of the contracts handed out by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) were untendered.
Meanwhile, MPAC employees were caught expensing lavish meals and expensive gifts on the taxpayers’ money. The auditor also found the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) wasted $21-million dollars on an information technology program that never worked, while only one in five calls to that office are answered. The auditor added many of the same problems that he outlined regarding the FRO in 2003 remain today.
Despite releasing two special reports on health care over the last two years, the auditor’s major focus in the latest annual report was again the waste of health care dollars under the Liberal government. Despite sinking more than $250-million dollars into the program, Dalton McGuinty’s Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) have yet to reduce long-term care waiting times, and the number of alternate-level-of-care (ALC) patients needlessly occupying hospital beds and clogging emergency rooms.
Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak said, “The Auditor General’s annual report revealed much of what we’ve come to expect from Dalton McGuinty – and confirmed the legacy of waste continues across multiple ministries, agencies and programs.
“For seven years, the auditor has done his job – identifying the waste, scandal, and rot. Yet Dalton McGuinty continues to fail to do his job.”
A sample of employees’ expenses at MPAC found:
– $955 for a dinner for 12 people to celebrate “year-end results”;
– $746 for a staff Christmas party; and
– $1,700 for Taylor Made golf clubs, Nintendo Wiis, and iPods.
Despite spending millions, the auditor confirmed that 50,000 alternative level of care patients are needlessly occupying hospital beds and clogging emergency rooms.
At the Family Responsibility Office, arrears have increased 23 per cent to $1.6-billion under the Liberal government.
The NDP was no happier with the report than the PCs. The said it shows the McGuinty Liberals are forcing Ontario families to play a waiting game for important – even life-saving – programs and services, according to leader Andrea Horwath.
“While the McGuinty Liberals have left people waiting for everything from ER [emergency room] treatment to property tax assessment, they can’t move fast enough to approve infrastructure spending against the advice of their own staff,” said Horwath. “Once again, we see an arrogant, out-of-touch government that leaves people who need a break paying more and getting less.”
Despite promises of strategies on aging-at-home and emergency room waits, the Auditor General found people are still waiting as long as 26 hours in emergency rooms and up to 262 days for home care services.
Horvath said, “Others can’t get help at all. The report found that patients could be denied home care support depending on where they live, and seniors are turned away from long-term care due to behavioural issues. That is unacceptable,” she said.
She also had serious concerns about the state of the province’s property assessment corporation and the funding of infrastructure projects.
“In too many cases, property owners aren’t being assessed correctly. And they have to wait as long as 18 years for an actual property inspection, six years longer than what it should be. All the while, MPAC is spending lavishly on meals and video game consoles. It’s as if nothing was learned from the eHealth scandal,” said Horwath.
“As for the infrastructure spending, I have real concerns about the manner in which projects were selected for funding. It’s a process taken straight out of the Wild West, with little in the way of a formal approval mechanism or paper trail. Given the billions of dollars involved, it is very disconcerting.”
Horwath added that the report’s findings require a lot of explanation from the McGuinty government.
“After seven years, it’s clear the McGuinty Liberals have lost their way and have a very skewed sense of priorities,” she said.
