By Pepper Parr
December 6th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
“They just do whatever they want with no consideration for the rules, for accountability, for transparency and frankly, for what the data and science are telling them. This is a government that’s off the rails and they’re doing whatever they want at enormous expense to the people of Ontario.”
Who said that: The Auditor General for the province.
How does the Auditor General get the job?
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario appoints the Auditor General for a 10-year term. The appointment is made by Order of the Legislative Assembly after a bi-partisan panel of MPPs unanimously recommends a candidate. The legislature must also approve any removal of the Auditor General.
The Auditor General is an independent officer of the Legislative Assembly who is responsible for:
Shelley Spence: Ontario Auditor General
Ensuring financial transparency
Holding public-sector organizations accountable
Examining the province’s Public Accounts
Auditing the accounts and financial transactions of Crown agencies
Carrying out performance audits of government activities and programs
Assessing compliance with legislation and government directives
Reporting on their examination in an annual report
Shelly Spence, the Ontario Auditor General had a lot more to say about the Ford government.
Tune in tomorrow – we will have more for you.
Sounds from my experience just like our City government. ‘They just do whatever they want with no consideration for the rules, for accountability, for transparency and frankly, for what the data and science are telling them. It’s called legal systemic corruption.
We need something like the AG, badly.
I am no fan of the Ford Government and do believe that the Provincial Auditor’s blunt comments have been proven to be true, time and again. However, people need to understand the relationship of the Provincial Auditor with the government of the day; it is adversarial and intended to be so. Unlike the internal audit groups that work within ministries and are responsible for improving operations with a value for money approach, the Provincial Auditor is an Officer of the Legislature and is charged with uncovering gross inefficiencies in government operations and examples of fiduciary abuse. More recently (thank you Uncle Dalton), the Provincial Auditor has also been allowed to comment on policy – an area that was previously not within the Office’s terms of reference.
In short, the Provincial Auditor is ‘not there to help the government’ in any direct, constructive sense; the Office exists to represent the people of Ontario and expose government abuse and malfeasance. So, the Annual Report is never a love letter; it is a long litany of perceived operational or policy issues, examples of gross incompetence and areas of serious neglect. The more egregious and damning the findings, the better. And those ministries/agencies that hit the ‘top 10 spotlight’ know that they will be doing the ‘dual fandango’ of Estimates and Public Accounts in the very near future.
I would be far more concerned if the Annual Report was tempered or complimentary. Such would suggest an unhealthy alliance between the government and the Provincial Auditor and an absence of the critical oversight that the latter performs. It would have echoes of the ‘cosy and self-serving relationships’ that seem to be developing between the various checks and balance governance entities south of our border. Such are indeed existential threats to democracy and the common good.
Ford has perfected the modern politician’s dodge: See something you philosophically don’t like (safe injection centers, paying nurses a better wage, Ontario Science Centre, etc.) So kill its funding today, but promise something better will be implemented (unsaid: sometime in the future); Ignore facts or similar criticisms; and head back to the Developer’s Club for lunch.
Better he should just pass a bill to outlaw negative inputs like auditor reports – include the notwithstanding clause for insulation. Then we would at least know where we stand, instead of just waiting for the next insult to common sense.
Any comments on the Feds audit reports?