Ontario funding fiasco requires answers

Only two short years after Canadians watched the daily soap opera play out that unveiled the tangled federal Liberal sponsorship scandal, Ontarians again see their government stonewalling the Opposition about more questionable spending. This time Queens Park is the stage for an ongoing funding fiasco.
Concern continues to grow over what exactly is being hidden, as government flaunts question period by refusing to answer pointed queries from both opposition parties.

What we know is this: Last month, before closing the books on the fiscal year, the Mc- Guinty government used as much as $32-million to pad what has all the appearances of being a political slush fund run through Ontario's Ministry of Citizenship.

These millions of taxpayer dollars were allocated to cultural organizations designed to help new Canadians adjust to living in Ontario.  While there are hundreds of such groups doing worthwhile work for the province, the vast majority of these groups, were denied the opportunity to apply for this funding from Citizenship Minister Mike Colle.

Instead of opening the funding to an application and approval process, the McGuinty government arbitrarily picked who would get money from the secret fund, and then quickly cut cheques. Moreover, there is disturbing evidence that groups with close Ontario Liberal ties were among the primary beneficiaries of this fund.

Since this information came to light, Premier McGuinty has steadfastly refused to remove the veil of secrecy that conceals the facts behind opposition charges. Not only has the Minister of Citizenship, in Question Period, steadfastly refused to answer direct questions at Queens Park, but the Premier himself has muddied the waters with accusations that questions of the grant scheme are motivated by anti-immigrant sentiments. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Further, a motion put to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to formally refer the matter to the Auditor General was voted down by Liberal committee members.  This action prompted the Official Opposition to put forward a motion on April 30, 2007, which would have required the Minister to table documents related to this alleged political slush fund.  Again, Premier McGuinty used his majority to prevent Ontarians from learning how their money was spent.

In response to the stonewalling, the Official Opposition is employing a two pronged approach to get to the bottom of this.

First, MPPs from both Opposition parties are writing to the Auditor General, asking him to investigate the scandal, and report back before October 10, 2007.  We are telling him that questions in the Legislature have been routinely disregarded by Ministers who simply recite talking points. We want to learn the accounting details of the year-end spending spree. We hope the Auditor General will shed some light.  Stay tuned for his decision on the matter.

Secondly, the Opposition has few legislative tools available to force the Premier to come clean on the slush fund.  That’s why we are disrupting the Premier’s legislative agenda using procedural tools such as forcing recorded votes on every possible matter.

My position is unequivocal – tax dollars belong to the people of Ontario.  They should only be spent using acceptable accounting techniques.  And when spent, the public should have ready access to the details of the program. 
We should not accept anything less.