{"id":37022,"date":"2020-09-24T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T13:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=37022"},"modified":"2020-09-24T09:03:24","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T13:03:24","slug":"ontario-restores-transparency-and-accountability-to-the-provinces-finances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2020\/09\/24\/ontario-restores-transparency-and-accountability-to-the-provinces-finances\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario Restores Transparency and Accountability to the Province’s Finances"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Ontario government is releasing the 2019-20 Public Accounts and delivering on the government’s commitment to restore transparency and accountability to the province’s finances. For the third year in a row, the Auditor General has provided a clean audit opinion on the Province’s Public Accounts.<\/p>\n

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“The 2019-20 Public Accounts shows the\u00a0government made vital investments\u00a0in health care and other critical frontline services,”\u00a0said Peter Bethlenfalvy, President of the Treasury Board. “Our government’s historic investments ensured we were well-positioned to quickly and effectively respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic and protect the health and safety of the people of Ontario.”<\/p>\n

The Public Accounts provides a retrospective look at the government’s fiscal performance over the previous fiscal year, comparing the financial results against those projected in the 2019 Budget<\/em>. The financial impacts of COVID-19 began late in the fourth quarter of 2019-20, and the majority of the government’s COVID-19 investments will be recorded in the 2020-21 fiscal year.<\/p>\n

The Public Accounts reports a 2019-20 deficit of $8.7 billion \u2014 $1.6 billion lower than the 2019 Budget<\/em> projection \u2014 reflecting stronger revenue growth led by higher than anticipated employment and wage growth and housing resales in 2019. Total expenses for 2019-20 were $3.7\u00a0billion higher than the previous year, mainly driven by increased investment in the health sector, including funding to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care homes, and the education sector.<\/p>\n

In the health sector, the government spent $63.7 billion, including $0.3 billion above planned spending in the 2019 Budget<\/em>, and in the education sector, the government spent $30.2 billion, including $0.4 billion above planned spending in the 2019 Budget<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“Responsible, prudent financial management ensured our government was prepared for the unexpected crisis caused by COVID-19,” said Rod Phillips, Minister of Finance. “To protect the health and economic well-being of the people of Ontario, we continue to invest in the fight against the global pandemic, including providing support to families, businesses, workers, municipalities, long-term care homes and those on the frontlines of the pandemic. As we reported in the 2020-21 First Quarter Finances<\/em>, our total COVID-19 response action plan is now a projected $30 billion.”<\/p>\n

To build on the government’s capacity for enterprise risk management, the government of Ontario recently created the Office of the Comptroller General, a new deputy minister–<\/em>level position tasked with identifying and mitigating potential financial and policy risks before they take hold, protecting taxpayer dollars in the process.<\/p>\n

The new Comptroller General will start in October, and complement the other important steps the government has taken to ensure value for public dollars, including:<\/p>\n