Auditor General says Wynne Government’s numbers can’t be trusted

(Queen’s Park) – Ontario’s Auditor General has once again called into question the Wynne Government’s accounting methods, concluding the Liberals are significantly understating their projected deficits for the coming years.

“Overall…our work indicated that the Pre-Election Report (prepared by the Wynne Government) is not a reasonable and fair presentation of Ontario’s finances,” Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk wrote to the Ontario Legislature on April 25th.

Ms. Lysyk says the provincial deficit for the current fiscal year will actually be $11.7 billion, not $6.7 billion as indicated in the 2018 Provincial Budget. This means the true deficit figure will be 75 percent higher than the Minister of Finance claimed.

“This latest report by the Auditor General proves once and for all that the Liberal budget numbers can’t be trusted,” Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott said. “This is very serious, and anyone in Ontario who cares about integrity in Government will be very concerned.”

The Auditor General also rang alarm bells about the Province’s growing debt, which has more than doubled in recent years under successive Liberal Governments.

To show how much the provincial debt is increasing, she indicated that each Ontario resident’s share of the debt was about $22,000 in 2016, but is on track to rise to about $26,000 per person in 2021.

“Clearly, the provincial election can’t come soon enough,” Mr. Arnott added. “Ontario needs a Government that reports its financial position honestly and lives within its means.”

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Ted Arnott, MPP

Phone: 416-325-3880

Email: ted.arnott@pc.ola.org