Rob
Tanya Talaga
Queen's Park Bureau
Problems persist with smuggling and sales of illegal cigarettes, and the government should crack down to make sure that purchases of tax-free cigarettes and cigars on First Nations reserves don't exceed their tobacco allocations, Jim McCarter found.
Government computer systems, policies and procedures are "still inadequate" to make sure the proper amount of tobacco, gas and diesel taxes are remitted despite similar shortcomings pointed out in a 2001 audit, McCarter wrote in his 498-page report.
The $500 million figure is an estimate based on tax rates and tobacco consumption.
"This is a lot of money that the province could be missing out on during these difficult economic times," McCarter said in a statement, noting the tobacco tax shortfall has "increased significantly" in the last seven years.
"The existence of this tax gap remains a major issue for provincial tax coffers."
The warning comes as Premier Dalton McGuinty repeatedly says some government spending will have to be curtailed as other tax revenues slip during the economic slowdown.
McCarter's annual audit uncovered a host of ways in which taxpayers' hard-earned money wasn't being spent properly, wisely or with suitable safeguards — including at the new Brampton Civic Hospital built as a public-private partnership or P-3.
The project, launched by the previous Progressive Conservative government, "may well have led to higher costs" than if the government had built the hospital itself, McCarter concluded, although a dollar figure was not provided.
The Liberal government has now embarked on building more than two dozen P-3 hospitals.
The audit also found:
— Court backlogs are now at their worst levels in 15 years despite government efforts to stem the trend, caused by a 17 per cent increase in criminal charges laid in the last five years and more court appearances needed to dispose of each case. People in custody awaiting court dates account for 70 per cent of the jail population.
— There is a "serious" problem with absenteeism by jail guards, who took an average of 32.5 sick days in 2007 — costing taxpayers $20 million annually in replacements and overtime.
— Despite McGuinty's concerns that an estimated 100,000 skilled jobs are going unfilled in Ontario, fewer than half ever complete provincial apprenticeship training programs on which spending has been increased 25 per cent since 2002. Calling the dropout rate "too high," McCarter said the province "needs to find out why this situation exists and it needs to take steps to remedy it so we can prepare people to meet the demand for skilled labour."
— On food safety, a major concern since the deadly listeria outbreak earlier this year, some provincially-regulated slaughterhouses, meat and dairy processing plants were found to be as much as 30 per cent below standards — and in many cases these were "repeat violations." For example, milk and cheese tests found bacteria counts high enough to signal sanitation problems.
— Nine out of 10 people needing addiction treatment may not be getting it because of long waiting lists, a shortage of services and regional funding inequities that have some areas of the province getting funding at levels far below others.
— Despite a 54 per cent increase in special education funding to schools in the last six years, only 5 per cent more children are being served.
— Mental health services for children are a "patchwork" provided by 440 agencies that share $434 million in provincial funding, yet these agencies are not working closely enough with schools to detect signs of early mental health disorders.
— School boards got $383 million last year to fix crumbling schools but the money didn't always go toward repairs, with one board spending $2.5 million of its $2.8 million grant for this on "ineligible projects" and another failing to get competitive bids for $3.5 million in plumbing work.