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Thread (warning: wonkish) — A recent report by the Financial Accountability Officer raises serious questions about the transparency of the Ford government’s current spending plans #onpoli
Last month, the FAO released an unusual report, “Expenditure Estimates: A Review of Ontario’s Proposed Spending Requirements for the 2018-19 Supply Bill” fao-on.org/en/Blog/Public… #onpoli
The Supply Act is the annual legislation that authorizes spending for various government programs based on the Expenditure Estimates, a document that sets the budget for all government programs, based on the spending plan outlined in the government’s budget
But the 2018-19 budget was passed by the previous Liberal government. Obviously, the new Ford government has a different spending plan for 2018-19, which was outlined in its Fall Economic Statement “mini budget” fin.gov.on.ca/fallstatement/…
But get this: according to the FAO, the Ford government’s new Supply Act, tabled this week, is NOT based on its new spending plan. For some reason, the Ford government tabled the *Liberal government’s* Expenditure Estimates #onpoli 
The FAO says the tabled Estimates misstates the Ford government’s planned spending for 40 programs. Not only that, the Ford government’s new Supply Act doesn’t even fund all of the Ford government’s own spending plan. It falls $136 million short!
Yes, the Ford government’s spending plan for 2018-19 is *higher* than what was in the Liberal budget. The FAO says the biggest change is the $2.4 billion in additional spending to replace the Liberals’ off-book Fair Hydro Plan with the Ford government’s version of the same plan
But the FAO has no further details about the Ford government’s planned changes to 40 programs. Without an updated Estimates, the public has no way of knowing the details of the government’s true spending plan #onpoli
The Fall Economic Statement is no help, because on the page that would normally show changes to specific programs, we see over $3 billion in overall cuts, described unhelpfully as “savings,” with no detail at all
Without an accurate Estimates, the details of the Ford govt’s REAL spending plan for 2018-19 are revealed only through Treasury Board orders, which reallocate cash between programs. But the public only learns of these orders much later, when the Public Accounts is tabled
In the meantime, the public simply does not know what the Ford government is doing. Why does this matter? Well, consider the Ontario Autism Program
As @MikePMoffatt has pointed out, Minister Lisa MacLeod has thrown around a lot of numbers lately concerning the available funding for the Ontario Autism Program medium.com/@MikePMoffatt/… #onpoli
Here’s MacLeod on February 21, responding to a question from Andrea Horwath. None of the dollar figures MacLeod cites makes any sense ola.org/en/legislative… #onpoli
In fact, the 2017-18 budget originally allocated $290.7 million for autism, not $256 million as MacLeod claims (that was the Liberal budget that infamously tried to end the waiting list for families by kicking families off it, based on age) ontario.ca/page/expenditu… #onpoli
After a massive public outcry, the government made changes to the autism program. According to the Public Accounts, the government wound up spending $317.8 million in 2017-18 files.ontario.ca/pa18_vol_1_en.… #onpoli
The Liberal government basically maintained this same level of funding in its 2018-19 budget, with the Estimates budgeting $321.5 million. Remember, THIS is the budget that the Ford government’s new Supply Act is based on #onpoli
So what on Earth was MacLeod talking about when she claimed that the autism program ran out of cash in the middle of last summer? There should have been plenty of money to at least maintain the status quo — unless she, or the Treasury Board, had turned off the taps #onpoli
To get to the bottom of this, @MTaylorNDP has tabled written questions to MacLeod and Treasury Board president Peter Bethlenfalvy to find out where these wild numbers come from, and learn what is really going on with the Ontario Autism Program ola.org/en/legislative… #onpoli
NDP finance critic @shaw_sandy has also tabled requests for all Treasury Board orders, to find out the secret details of planned changes to the 40 programs identified by the FAO from the Fall Economic Statement #onpoli
The previous Liberal government set a new standard for opacity & torqued accounting, as I have previously pointed out
But instead of making things more transparent, the Ford government is hiding even more information from the public about what it is really doing. It needs to stop /END #onpoli
Correction: it was the 2016-17 budget in which the Liberal government tried to reduce the autism waiting list by kicking families off it based on age. The stated dollar figures for the 2017-18 fiscal year are accurate
NDP finance critic @shaw_sandy spoke to these issues last week as the Supply Act was debated. She pointed out that the legislature’s Estimates Committee, whose job is to scrutinize government spending, was prevented from doing so this year ola.org/en/legislative… #onpoli
