Ford’s move to axe independent watchdogs saves $8M

Jan. 15, 2020
Thestar.com
Rob Ferguson

Taxpayers are saving about $8 million a year from Premier Doug Ford’s controversial decision to fold the operations of Ontario’s environmental commissioner, child advocate and French language services commissioner into offices of the auditor general and ombudsman.

The tally came to light Wednesday as provincial ombudsman Paul Dube introduced veteran Ontario civil servant Kelly Burke, a francophone from Cornwall, as the new French language commissioner.

Countering concerns the role has been watered down by Ford’s decision to end the French language service commissioner’s office as a separate organization -- which, in part, prompted MPP Amanda Simard to quit the Progressive Conservative caucus to sit as an independent -- both Burke and Dube insisted it will have more punch.

Being a part of the larger ombudsman’s office will provide “a broader reach over French language and culture in this province and I view this as an expansion of the role,” Burke said during a 45-minute news conference in which she and Dube alternated between French and English, sometimes in the same sentence.

“Chien de garde, that’s the role,” she told reporters, using the French term for watchdog. “I envision this new opportunity as not only having un chien de garde but deux chiens de garde.”

Dube pledged systemic investigations into problems with the provision of French-language services under Burke, who will have the title of deputy ombudsman. Ontario is home to 622,000 francophones.

“We’ll be promoting changes. We’ll be recommending to the different (government) departments, ‘Here’s what you have to do to corrects a systemic issue,’” he said.

“We’re going to have to go out there and get results to appease and to show and to demonstrate this to the francophone community.”

The offices of the French-language commissioner and provincial child and youth advocate -- both independent officers of the legislature, as was the environmental commissioner -- were folded into the ombudsman’s operation in legislation passed after the Ford government’s 2018 fall economic statement, in an effort to cut costs and eliminate annual deficits.

Dube said the budget he submitted last fall, folding in the new operations, was $5.84 million less than the previous budgets of the three operations separately. Moving the environmental commissioner into auditor general Bonnie Lysyk’s office saved about $2 million, her office said Wednesday.

But the biggest cuts came to the child advocate’s office, which has 49 fewer staff members after losing its advocacy role under the ombudsman, compared with just three fewer staff for the French language commissioner’s unit.

“To try to save money on the backs of our most vulnerable children is disgraceful,” said New Democrat MPP Monique Taylor (Hamilton Mountain), warning the lack of services will cost more in the long run through ripple effects.

 “It just doesn’t add up.”