| MACLEOD RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT CHILD AND YOUTH MINISTER’S COMPETENCE |
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| Tuesday, 05 December 2006 19:00 |
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Opposition Critic for Children and Youth asks, “who is responsible for her department?” QUEEN’S PARK, December 6, 2006 – Following revelations from the Auditor General of Ontario’s 2006 report, questions are being raised about Children and Youth Minister Mary-Anne Chambers’ competence. “The news on the negligence by the Minister of Children and Youth Services keeps getting worse,” said Lisa MacLeod, the Opposition Critic for Children and Youth. “Yesterday the Minister acknowledged that she first learned about Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario putting kids before cars as early as October of this year. She also indicated her Deputy Minister knew of the Auditor General’s report as early as September. This raises a lot of questions about the Minister’s own competency.” This week, the Auditor General of Ontario released his report, revealing a wide variety of questionable expenditures by Children’s Aid Society staff, including meals at high-end restaurants, $2,000 gym memberships, all-inclusive stays at Caribbean resorts, $2,400 personal trainers, and car washes at $150 each. The report also revealed that the Ministry of Children and Youth Services abandoned reporting that had been in place as far back as 1998. “First her department abandoned risk assessments put in place in 1998, then they cancelled financial reviews, then her department was ignoring quarterly reports submitted by Children’s Aid Societies,” said MacLeod. “Now we learn from the Minister herself that she, the Minister responsible for this mess, learned a whole month after her Deputy did of misappropriation of tax dollars that were set aside to protect Ontario’s most vulnerable. Who is responsible for her department? Is she or is it her deputy Minister?” - 30 - For more information, contact: Stephen Gilman, Executive Assistant Phone: 613-823-2116 Cell: 613-297-2051 |