A holiday-themed guide to the auditor general’s annual naughty list

It’s that time of year again when the auditor general of Ontario makes a list, checks it a couple of bazillion times and issues their findings on the government’s annual naughty-to-nice ratio. This marks the first year in the role for Shelley Spence, a former government and public service partner at Deloitte, who took over as the province’s top watchdog back in January. Last week, she issued her annual report: nine separate “value for money” audits covering government spending and procedural best practices on topics including the Ontario Place redevelopment and the province’s advertising budget, and let’s just say the tidings of comfort and joy are minimal. For those who aren’t inclined to read all 941 pages, we present a holiday-themed guide to the six most ho-ho-holy crap revelations, complete with lumps of coal.

1. The Ontario Place redevelopment budget is as bloated as a bowl full of jelly When the provincial government first went public with its plan to bring in Austrian mega-spa Therme on the Ontario Place grounds, part of the pitch was that the whole thing would be easy on the public purse strings—somewhere in the neighbourhood of $300 million, with a massive subsidizing cash injection coming from the new tenant. It turns out that those initial cost estimates were leaner than Ozempic Santa. In her report, Spence says that, since 2019, the estimated price tag has ballooned by $1.8 billion to a whopping $2.2 billion. “Blame inflation” was the flippant response from Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma. But the AG pointed her finger in a different direction: a lack of oversight and decisions being made on the fly without considering their financial implications for the public. Lumps of coal: * * * *

2. Like the Grinch stealing Christmas, the Ontario Place bidding process was “not fair, transparent or accountable” Wildly over-budget is bad enough, but the AG also found that the bidding process Therme won was full of inconsistency, secrecy and Griswoldian levels of chaos. Key details here include a super-subjective ranking system for the various Ontario Place site project proposals and inappropriate contact between some of the bidding companies (including Therme) and staff in the premier’s office. The head of Infrastructure Ontario, Michael Lindsay, was quick to highlight that the AG found no specific evidence of interference—a difficult bar for her to meet considering that records of what was discussed in these secret meetings have gone the way of the Abominable Snow Monster. Either way, the whole situation stinks worse than expired eggnog. Lumps of coal: * * * * *

3. Even Scrooge would have saved the Science Centre We all remember when the province announced plans to shut down the Ontario Science Centre. The outrage was swift, as were the offers to fund a repair from passionate local science nerds (including newly minted Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton). “Fiscal responsibility” was how the government justified its bah-humbuggery, claiming that repairing the current building would be more expensive than building an entirely new Science Centre on Ontario Place grounds. Not so, according to the AG’s figures, which show that the cost of a new facility exceeds $700 million, plus over $280 million for parking—eclipsing the cost of saving old faithful. Lumps of coal: * * *

4. Government-issued MZOs have been flying around like glitter on Mariah Carey’s holiday special Talk of ministerial zoning orders may sound like a good time for a long winter’s nap, but this is actually pretty juicy. Traditionally, MZOs—which allow for quick rezoning of land without the municipal application process—have been reserved for emergencies, such as facilitating new housing builds during a housing crisis. Yet, as the AG found, a whopping 114 were granted between 2018 and 2023, and the list of recipients gives, at the very least, “the appearance of preferential treatment.” If that sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the Greenbelt scandal all over again, complete with the same “Christmas comes early” vibes for certain well-connected landowners (a dozen of whom sold some or all of their land after receiving an MZO). Lumps of coal: * * * * *

5. The province’s self-promoting ads are more elaborate than a Home Alone booby trap The province upped its ad budget considerably, setting a record—$103 million—for shameless self-promotion. Sports fans will be familiar with the “What if I told you you already lived here?” campaign, which has run during NHL games, the Super Bowl and even the Emmys. And sure, branding Ontario as a great place to live, work and do business is an important objective—the problem is that the ads in question do less to promote and provide information about the great province of Ontario than to pump the snow tires of the governing party. (Meanwhile, election rumours are swirling like a category-five blizzard.) Lumps of coal: * * *

6. The plan to close safe consumption sites is as ill-conceived as a Hallmark holiday movie plot Health Minister Sylvia Jones has assured Ontarians that people are not going to die based on the government’s plan to close 10 safe consumption sites, but the AG’s report suggests otherwise. In fact, an estimated 1,600 fatal overdoses were prevented between March 2022 and 2023 by these specific sites, per Spence’s research, which also reveals that the Conservatives have made zero effort to talk to affected parties or assess the potential impact of the closures. Lumps of coal: * * * * *