Stiles: It’s time for this government to face the consequences of their corruption

QUEEN’S PARK – Marit Stiles, Leader of the Ontario NDP, released the following statement on the Auditor General’s new bombshell report, which outlines gross financial mismanagement and negligence from the Ford government on multiple files:

“Preferential treatment, wasting billions of taxpayer dollars and tipping the scales to favour insiders – the seriousness of this report cannot be overstated. It’s time for the Premier to face the consequences of their corruption – starting by firing the Minister of Infrastructure.”

“This is a government that couldn’t care less about fairness or the public interest. Instead of investing in schools and hospitals, they hand out MZOs like candy and sell off our park land in backroom deals to broke spa companies. This report shows they learned nothing from the Greenbelt scandal and being under active RCMP criminal investigation.”

Highlights from the 2024 Auditor General Report

• Ontario Place: From start to finish, the Ontario Place deal was mismanaged and rigged, driven by an opaque process with preferential treatment.
• Opioid crisis: The opioid crisis has consistently escalated since 2016, with 7 Ontarians dying a day in 2023 for opioid-related deaths. Despite this, there was no data, planning, or public consultation provided to justify closing CTS sites.
• MZOs: There is no protocol and no rationale for the way the government distributes MZOs. There is clear preferential treatment, even after the Greenbelt scandal.
• Infrastructure Ontario: Increased use of Ford’s favourite private-public partnership model has not resulted in better outcomes – instead, projects like transit and hospitals are consistently over budget and over time.
• Environmental regulations: The government routinely ignored their duty to consult the public and adhere to the environmental bill of rights.