| CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETIES |
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| Monday, 04 December 2006 19:00 |
Ontario Hansard - 05-December2006 Ms. Lisa MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton): To the Minister of Children and Youth Services: We now have the Auditor General's report, and it's even worse than we thought last week: a $60,000 luxury car, all-inclusive stays at Caribbean resorts, $150 car washes, $2,000 gym memberships, $2,400 personal trainers and car allowances on top of company vehicles. All the while, children at risk are waiting months for someone to check up on them. What the auditor makes clear is not that these are problems that were only recently identified, but that these are serious problems that are hurting at-risk children and that she ought to have known about all along. Why was this minister so negligent on this file? Hon. Mary Anne V. Chambers (Minister of Children and Youth Services): Does the member from Nepean-Carleton really believe that these things started with our government? Where was your government when these things were happening? As a result of our government expanding the powers of the Auditor General, we now have this information, and our government is not afraid of having this information revealed, because it's only through knowing that information that we'll be able to implement the higher standards that we are implementing as we speak, some of which have already been implemented. So I welcome the Auditor General's findings, and I don't think the previous government served the children of this province well by hiding these kinds of things. Ms. MacLeod: Today's not a day for patting themselves on the back. It was she who cancelled the reviews. It was she who ignored the reports. The minister's answers are devoid of all credibility. She didn't care what was happening to the money. The Auditor General writes that the McGuinty Liberals "discontinued reviews of service and financial data in the 2005-06 fiscal year." That's on page 36, if she wants to read it. The government stops reviewing spending, and we end up with managers getting $60,000 cars; $60,000 would pay for foster care for six children for one year, just to put that into perspective. That is what's so heartbreaking about this utter failure on your part. You've traded kids for cars. Why did you stand by and ignore your responsibilities, why did you abandon the reviews and why didn't you review the reports? Hon. Mrs. Chambers: It is very obvious from the opposition's reaction to the auditor's report that they would have been preferred to continue to hide this kind of information. Well, we are establishing an accountability office, because we are working towards higher standards in protecting taxpayer dollars but also in protecting our most vulnerable kids. We are using this opportunity to go even further than the auditor has gone, in introducing administrative policies that a transfer payment agency in this province has never, ever had to adhere to before. So what we're doing is removing the discretion from boards of governments, removing the discretion from executive directors and having them abide by these higher standards which will better protect our children and better utilize taxpayer dollars. |