Ford government guilty of a litany of shortcomings
By Jessica Bell
The auditor general’s office has huge latitude to investigate the workings of government agencies, departments, and government-funded or regulated institutions to see if they are working as they should. Here’s the lowdown on the office’s latest annual report.
The government has a flawed opioid strategy
Ontario has an opioid crisis. Over the last decade, opioid-related deaths and emergency department visits increased by almost 300 per cent, with an average of seven people a day dying from opioid-related causes.
Access to addiction-treatment and harm-reduction services is limited. Few hospitals and primary care providers offer addiction-treatment services, and very few emergency departments and family health teams have addiction specialists.
The ministry is not tracking the effectiveness of its work, or the issue in general; for example, the ministry doesn’t track people who become addicted after being prescribed opioids.
The government provided no evidence to justify the closure of Consumption and Treatment Sites (CTS) that provided harm-reduction services like needle exchange and a room for people to use drugs with a health-care worker present in case of an overdose.
The Ontario Place development is flawed and costly
The selection process to choose Austrian spa company Therme to redevelop Ontario Place into a luxury spa was not fair, transparent, or accountable.
The cost has ballooned to $2.2 billion (an increase of $1.8 billion), with the procurement process deemed “highly irregular” by the auditor general. The amount Therme is investing is much lower than publicly reported: $350 million instead of $750 million.
Therme is also broke. The company doesn’t have enough equity to purchase a nice condo in Toronto, let alone construct a major spa. Massive public investment was necessary to make this project viable.
The government is giving out MZOs like candies
Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZOs) are orders issued by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing that dictate what can and cannot be built on a property.
There is no protocol and no rationale for the way the government distributes MZOs—even after the Greenbelt scandal. The ministry doesn’t assess whether the MZO is needed, or even if it is near services and infrastructure, like roads.
Ministry staff, even the premier, are implicated with handing out MZOs to developers who donate to the Conservative party. Typically, if a developer receives an MZO their land value goes up because the MZO gives the developer permission to build housing or buildings.
The Toronto District School Board is not always safe
Violent incidents at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) have increased 67 per cent since 2017-2018—the highest increase on record.
Mental health and wellness staffing has not kept pace with demand. Referrals for services have increased 71 per cent since 2017-18, while staffing has only increased by 42 per cent.
The TDSB has been unable to provide qualified supply teachers for about 20 per cent of absences.
TDSB school buildings are in the worst shape of any school board in the province. The TDSB has a repair backlog of $4.1 billion.
The Ontario Lands Tribunal is not independent or accessible
The Ontario Lands Tribunal (OLT) is an extraordinarily powerful appeal body that rules on land use decisions, such as condominiums, quarries, and municipal official plans.
The OLT is not able to provide evidence to prove its adjudicators are qualified and is not meeting its target of hearing cases in a timely manner.
The average time for a case to make its way through the OLT process, from intake to ruling, has increased from 420 days to 553 days over the past three years.
The government’s changes to the OLT (restricting environmental and residents’ groups from challenging developments) and the high cost of appealing a decision, are limiting the ability of individuals, non-profits and small municipalities from accessing the tribunal.
In 2023-2024, the OLT allowed about 90 per cent of the 116 developments that appealed to it, giving the impression that it sided with developers over municipalities, public interest groups, and residents.
Government advertising is up
Government advertising spending was the highest ever recorded, totaling $103.5 million this year, which is triple the amount from last fiscal year.
About 62 per cent of the funding was for campaigns that would have been considered “too partisan” to qualify for public spending under government advertising rules prior to 2015.
The primary purpose of the partisan ads was to create a favourable impression—and sometimes a misleading impression—of the governing party, as opposed to giving specific information, like reminding people to be screened for cervical cancer.
For instance, the “funding in schools” ad—which the government spent $3 million on—presented Ontario’s schools as heavily funded and well-staffed. Yet, funding in schools per student, when inflation is factored in, has dropped by $776 per student over the past six years.
Jessica Bell is the MPP for University-Rosedale and the Official Opposition’s Housing Critic. She can be reached at jbell@ndp.on.ca or 416-535-7206.