Are You Aware?

Article reprinted from the Globe and Mail, Wednesday, May 14, 2003

“Secret Tory money plan stirs uproar”
by Richard Mackie

“Ontario’s Conservative government secretly gave itself the authority to spend $36 billion without the scrutiny of the legislature as it prepared for an early election call, according to a previously hidden order-in-council.

The unprecedented document authorizing the spending, about half the government’s budget for the year, was signed by two cabinet ministers on March 26, the day before the Tories’ controversial made-for-television budget.

The document has allowed the government to spend money for the past six weeks without seeking approval from the legislature. It would have allowed the Tories to call an election and not bring the legislature back to work until the fall, avoiding scrutiny of its controversial budget statement.

But the public outcry over the legitimacy of the budget delivered in an auto parts training facility forced the government to abandon that plan and call the legislature back into session on April 30.

Premier Ernie Eves is now deciding whether to call an election this spring, or wait until fall, or even next year.

Veteran Liberal MPP Sean Conway argued that the extraordinary length of time – six months – covered by the special warrant shows that Mr. Eves planned to call an election after the budget and delay the return of the legislature until the fall.

Critics say the Tories are using the document to avoid the centuries-old process by which a legislature holds a government accountable for its spending.

Although it was signed seven weeks ago, the government has not made the document public. It was not tabled with the clerk of the legislature until April 29 and was not available in the cabinet secretariat yesterday.

The document was not with the budget papers presented to the clerk of the legislature shortly before the budget speech was delivered on March 27.

John Williamson, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the size of the spending authorization and the fact that it was kept secret are without precedent and violate basic principles of parliamentary democracy.

‘They’re going to spend $36 billion of our tax dollars without any oversight, any review or any debate. That’s not how our system operates. There are checks and balances in place to allow members….to look at how the spending adds up and decide whether it is good spending or bad spending.’ he said.

Mr. Conway revealed the government’s secret spending plans yesterday during debate on a ruling by Speaker Gary Carr that the government was in contempt of the legislature for presenting the budget outside the House.

Mr. Conway said the $36 billion covered in the special warrant is unprecedented and suggested it created ‘an election slush fund for this government’.

‘By secret fiat, this government received authorization to spend more than $36 billion in tax dollars’, he said.

‘There was no public discussion, no scrutiny by the legislature and no approval granted by the MPPs elected to represent Ontarians. This is another breathtaking example of the contempt in which this government holds our democratic, parliamentary institutions and processes.’

Mr. Conway added, ‘You cannot find another special warrant any place in Canada or in the British Commonwealth that will equal this in magnitude.’

Government House Leader Chris Stockwell argued that it is normal for the government to use special warrants to authorize spending.
‘There is nothing, nothing unusual,’ he said, ‘I can give you example after example after example of every administration doing this in the past two decades.’

Mr. Stockwell also disputed Mr. Conway’s complaint that the special warrant was kept secret. ‘This is given to the clerk of the legislature. The clerk of the legislature has the special warrant.’

The order-in-council authorizing the spending is known as a special warrant; a device governments use to ensure they temporarily have enough money to pay salaries and bills while waiting for the legislature to return.

A special warrant normally is for much smaller amounts to keep the cash flowing over two or three months while the government waits for the legislature to pass a supply motion, the long-standing procedure by which elected representatives scrutinize and approve the government’s spending plans.

The special warrant, 769/2003, which was signed by Finance Minister Janet Ecker and Public Security Minister Bob Runciman, who is chairman of the cabinet, allows the government to spend without scrutiny from April 1 through Sept. 30. A copy of the special warrant was sent to Mr. Conway in a plain brown envelope on Monday.

The government had to sign a special warrant because Premier Ernie Eves had prorogued the legislature instead of sticking to the original schedule that would have had the MPPs return to work on March 17.”

Parents for Children’s Mental Health believes that the government should be accountable to children and families in Ontario. Children’s Mental Health Services are chronically under-funded and ignored. The people of Ontario deserve to know how and where their tax dollars are being spent. We urge you to contact our government and ask for accountability – ask for transparency in their spending.

Please see our sections on Election Advocacy and Speaking on Behalf of Children for information about advocating for children’s mental health services and to access our Advocacy Tools.