• Air Ambulance Service a flying shame
  
• Birth certificates take longer to deliver than babies
  
• Temps take taxpayers to the cleaners

Toronto: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation responded to the Auditor General's Report for 2005, released today at Queen's Park. The report notes several areas where the government is failing to properly deliver quality services and make wise use of taxpayer dollars, including the air ambulance service and temporary help in the public sector. As well, in reviewing the government's performance since its previous two audits in 2003 and 2004, the auditor noted that only limited progress had been made in some areas, including the reduction of court backlogs.

"The Auditor's Report is a wake-up call to this government. Despite overall spending increases of 9% last year and 4.5% this year, this government has failed to deliver value to taxpayers in a wide range of areas," said CTF Ontario Director Tasha Kheiriddin. "Premier McGuinty should focus on finding efficiencies and curbing waste instead of throwing more good tax dollars after bad."

Air Ambulance Service a flying shame

According to the Auditor General's report, ambulance air-operator reaction times were inadequately monitored, and those that were only met provincial criteria in 37 - 68% of cases. Furthermore, in 70% of service reviews, ambulance operators had not met job certification criteria. Cancellations of helicopter calls rose from 27% in 2003/04 to 33% in 2004/05, increasing costs for cancelled flights and preventing operators from responding to other calls. No explanation for this increase was given.

"The air ambulance service is a flying shame," said Kheiriddin. "Taxpayers spent $93 million on this program last year - they want to know that it is saving lives, not wasting money. The government must act immediately to ensure this critical service is functioning properly."

Birth certificates take longer to deliver than babies

The report reveals that timely service levels for key government documents have plummeted in recent years, with wait times for birth certificates rising from several weeks to several months, even up to a year in some cases. The Office of the Registrar General spent $30.3 million in 2004/05 and employed between 275 and 425 staff during that year. Yet its call centre was so dysfunctional that 99% of callers got a busy signal or were disconnected. The situation is so bad that in the 2005 Throne Speech, the government promised to give taxpayers their money back if they fail to receive their documents within a guaranteed period of time.

"The 'money-back' service guarantee is not the answer. What's really needed are penalties for state employees who fail to deliver these services on time. There is no reason it should take a year to get a birth certificate - it takes less time to have a baby!" said Kheiriddin.

Temps take taxpayers to the cleaners

The Auditor General's report reveals that half of the province's contracts for temporary help exceeded $25,000, the threshold for competitive bidding, yet were not subjected to competitive bidding processes. The Auditor concludes that "We noted significant differences in the rates of various agencies, suggesting that ministries could have obtained the same services for less had they shopped around." (p.276) In addition, there appears to be favoritism in the awarding of these contracts. One temporary help agency recorded payments of almost $10.5 million in 2003-04, including $4 million to Management Board Secretariat; a former employee of the Secretariat runs the agency in question. As well, retired employees are "double-dipping" by collecting pensions while doing temporary work for the government, despite regulations which mandate that their pensions be reduced if they do work for the provincial government.

"This situation is unacceptable. The government must overhaul its temporary help policy. Salaries of state workers comprised 27% of total government spending last year. It is inexcusable that taxpayers are not getting value for money in this area," said Kheiriddin. "Contracting out should save taxpayers money, not cost more."

In the report, the government responds by claiming that the size of the Ontario Public Sector Workforce has dropped since the 1990's. "This is not accurate," replied Kheiriddin. "While the public sector did decrease between 1995 and 1998, it began increasing again in 1999, and stands today at its highest level in fifteen years." According to Statistics Canada Public Sector Employment data for 2004, 448,538 Ontarians were on the provincial payroll in 2004, compared to 400,685 in 1999 and 447,064 in 1989.