Ontario Auditor General bonnie lisk released its annual report on Wednesday. Here are some highlights of her findings:
– Of the $7 billion spent on contracts related to COVID-19 between March 2020 and March 2022, approximately $3.5 billion were non-competitive purchases
– The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Public Business Services Delivery had personal protective equipment worth $66 million that was expired, damaged or obsolete by March 31, 2022
Due to a major procurement commitment, the province expects to have more than 100 million N95 respirators worth $81 million by March 2030
– The province did not consistently apply its prioritization process when it selected 114 hot spot communities to receive COVID-19 vaccines ahead of low-risk communities, resulting in nine high-risk neighborhoods in favor of eight low-risk communities Got out
Ontario vaccine rollout ‘uncoordinated’ and ‘wasteful’: auditor general
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– The lack of a centralized COVID-19 vaccine booking system meant there were approximately 227,000 no-shows for appointments in 2021, as some Ontarians registered for multiple openings using different booking systems.
– COVID-19 vaccination pay was very different for doctors, who earned $170 to $220 an hour, compared with nurses $32 to $49 an hour and pharmacists $30 to $57 an hour.
Despite having an existing vaccination registry system called PANORAMA, the province spent $144 million to create a COVID-19 specific database called Covaxon, to be expanded from its use to school-aged children to all Ontarians in 2014, But it was never completed even though $170 million was spent on that program
– 77 percent of the majority of municipalities surveyed by the auditor general are unable to accurately map urban flood risk zones, partly due to a lack of provincial elevation data
Ford government failed to follow expert advice on highway projects, auditor general finds
Green spaces such as wetlands, forests and grasslands are important for flood reduction, but over the past 20 years, the percentage of urban land area classified as green in the province’s large and medium urban centers declined by 94 percent Is.
– The Niagara Escarpment no longer has environmental monitoring as there is no staff on the Niagara Escarpment Commission that does this work
– Ontarians pay the highest car insurance premiums in the country, with average premiums expected to increase nearly 14 percent from 2017 to 2021 to $1,642
– The auditor general obtained 10 car insurance quotes based on where the person lived, the only factor that changed, and found rates for the same car ranged from $1,200 in London, Ontario to $3,350 per year in Brampton, Ont.
– The Ministry of Transportation prioritized the construction of four highway expansion projects that may not have been recommended by its own experts, including Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass
– Ministry of Transport did not follow its own guidelines for toll closure and license plate sticker fee in business matters
Ontario’s Liquor Control Board relied heavily on information technology consultants, who made up a third of its workforce and were paid $155 an hour, compared to permanent employees who earned $68 an hour.
– The province does not track 33 invasive species that are in Ontario and are considered high risk by neighboring jurisdictions
– There is sometimes a delay of years in regulating invasive species in the province after they have been identified as a problem
– The province spends only $4 million annually to fight invasive species, despite an economic impact of $3.6 billion
– As of April 2022, of the 5,746 abandoned mines in Ontario, 3,942 had unresolved hazards and only 111 had been partially rehabilitated
– From 2017 to 2021, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry took more than four hours to dispatch crews for 15 percent of the province’s 3,873 wildfires, with the four longest in the north
– The province does not track or maintain a centralized repository of floodplain maps and as a result, does not know where all flood prone areas are
– Only 19 per cent of the 27,000 oil and gas wells in Ontario have been inspected since 2005
– A well in southern Ontario has been leaking oil since 2018 and is scheduled to be shut down in 2023
– Casino operators have lowered their revenue projections since 2019, reducing their revenue share with the province by several billion dollars
– The province sent mystery shoppers to several casinos and found they could be laundering money in two casinos
– Ontario electricity generation was using just over 50 per cent of installed hydroelectric generating capacity
– In 2021, OPG could generate enough electricity to power 540,000 more homes
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