Ms. Lisa MacLeod: My question is to the Minister of Government Services. All week the Premier and the health minister have let the media and the public believe that the three-quarters-of-a-million-dollar payout to Ron Sapsford was severance. The health minister and, apparently, the finance minister say that you are really the one to ask. We know from the guide to preparing the sunshine list, as well as from Ministry of Finance spokespeople, that this can't be severance.

Minister, this is really about ministerial accountability. You can either answer my question or you won't. Do you want to be accountable to this Legislature or not? Ron Sapsford was paid three quarters of a million dollars for what? People in Ontario would like to know.

Hon. Harinder S. Takhar: Let me say this: I've had the privilege of working both in the private sector and in the public sector. I want to tell you, based on my experience in the public sector and the private sector, we have very outstanding individuals working in our Ontario public sector and I'm very proud of the work that they perform.

We are a large and complicated organization with a $120-billion-plus budget, so we want to attract the best talent that we can find in Ontario, and the Ontario people deserve nothing less than that. When you do that, you go and look for people outside. If, for any reason, the employees are terminated, I can say that the employees have the option to remain on the payroll utilizing entitlements such as accumulated vacation and severance instead of receiving a lump sum payment.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary?

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Minister, you didn't tell us what Mr. Sapsford is getting paid for. You're trying to justify a three-quarters-of-a-million-dollar payout and you're trying to conceal that from this Legislature.

The McGuinty Liberals-

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): I'd ask the honourable member to withdraw the comment that she just made, please.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: I withdraw, Mr. Speaker.

The McGuinty Liberals act as though the money they handed out to Ron Sapsford was theirs to use as a personal slush fund, but it's Ontario families who are footing the bills for your sweetheart deal and they're getting cheated out of front-line health care, particularly in the city of Ottawa.

The Ontario PC Party will undertake a sunshine review that roots out the McGuinty Liberals' mysterious sweetheart deals. We think that three quarters of a million dollars is better spent on front-line health care. Why do you think it is better spent on the sweetheart deal to Ron Sapsford?

Hon. Harinder S. Takhar: As I was saying, we are a large, complicated organization and we need to attract the best talent. When you attract the best talent, you need to then pay the people based on whatever the market rates are. Let me tell you, the average salary of the broader public sector has decreased and average OPS salaries on the list dropped by 1%; use of secondment has decreased from eight in 2008 to two today in the health sector. The 400 top-earning OPS employees on the list saw their salaries decrease this year. We have done everything to contain the salaries based on our economic circumstances, but we still need to attract the best-qualified people we can find to the Ontario public service.