Standing Committee on Public Accounts Committee Standing - - - - - 721

Chapter 5 Standing Committee on Public Accounts Role of the Committee Appointment and Composition of the Committee The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Com- mittee) is empowered to review and report to the Members of the Committee are typically appointed Legislative Assembly its observations, opinions by a motion of the Legislature. The number of and recommendations on reports from the Auditor members from any given political party reflects General and on the Public Accounts. These reports that party’s representation in the Legislative are deemed to have been permanently referred Assembly. All members except the Chair may vote to the Committee as they become available. The on motions, while the Chair votes only to break a Committee examines, assesses and reports to the tie. The Committee is normally established for the Legislative Assembly on a number of issues, includ- duration of the Parliament, from the opening of its ing the economy and efficiency of government and first session immediately following a general elec- broader-public-sector operations, and the effective- tion to its dissolution. ness of government programs in achieving their In accordance with the Standing Orders of the objectives. Legislative Assembly and following the June 2018 Under sections 16 and 17 of the Auditor General election, Committee members were appointed Act, the Committee may also request that the Aud- on July 26, 2018. The Chair and Vice-Chair were itor General examine any matter in respect of the elected on August 8, 2018, at the Committee’s first Public Accounts or undertake a special assignment meeting of the 42nd Parliament. The membership Chapter 5 on its behalf. as of August 2018 is as follows: The Committee typically holds hearings • Catherine Fife, Chair, New Democrat throughout the year when the Legislature is in • Peggy Sattler, Vice-Chair, New Democrat session relating to matters raised in our Annual • Goldie Ghamari, Progressive Conservative Report or in our special reports and may present its • Jim McDonell, Progressive Conservative observations and recommendations to the Legisla- • Norman Miller, Progressive Conservative tive Assembly. • Suze Morrison, New Democrat • Michael Parsa, Progressive Conservative • Kinga Surma, Progressive Conservative • Daisy Wai, Progressive Conservative 720 Standing Committee on Public Accounts 721 Prior to the June 2018 election, Committee mem- verbatim report of debates, speeches and other bers were appointed on July 16, 2014, following the Legislative Assembly proceedings. June 2014 election. The Chair and Vice-Chair were The Committee identifies matters of interest elected on October 22, 2014, at the Committee’s first from our Annual Report and our special reports meeting. The membership as of May 2018, prior to and conducts hearings on them. It typically reviews the June 2018 election, was as follows: reports from the value-for-money chapter, the • Ernie Hardeman, Chair, Public Accounts chapter, and follow-up chapters of Progressive Conservative our Annual Report. Normally, each of the political • Lisa MacLeod, Vice-Chair, parties annually selects a minimum of three audits Progressive Conservative or other sections from our Annual Report for Com- • Bob Delaney, Liberal mittee review. • Vic Dhillon, Liberal At each hearing, the Auditor General, senior • Han Dong, Liberal staff from her Office and a Research Officer from • John Fraser, Liberal the Legislative Research Service brief the Com- • Percy Hatfield, New Democrat mittee on the applicable section from our Report. • Randy Hillier, Progressive Conservative A briefing package is prepared by the Research • Liz Sandals, Liberal Officer that includes the responses of the relevant ministry, Crown agency or broader-public-sector organization that was the subject of the audit or review. The Committee typically requests senior Auditor General’s Advisory officials from the auditee(s) to appear at the hear- Role with the Committee ings and respond to the Committee’s questions. Because our Annual Report deals with operational, In accordance with section 16 of the Auditor administrative and financial rather than policy mat- General Act, at the request of the Committee, the ters, ministers are rarely asked to attend. Once the Auditor General, often accompanied by senior Committee’s hearings are completed, the Research staff, attends Committee meetings to assist with its Officer may prepare a draft report pursuant to the reviews and hearings relating to our Annual Report, Committee’s instructions as the Committee typically Ontario’s Public Accounts and any special reports reports its findings to the Legislative Assembly. issued by our Office. In addition, the Clerk, at the direction of the Committee, may also request those auditees that were not selected for hearings to provide the Chapter 5 Committee with an update of the actions taken to Committee Procedures and address our recommendations and other concerns Operations raised in our reports. The Committee may meet weekly when the Legisla- tive Assembly is sitting and, with the approval of the House, at any other time of its choosing. All Meetings Held meetings are generally open to the public except for those dealing with the Committee’s agenda and The Committee held 14 meetings between Septem- the preparation of its reports. All public Committee ber 2017 and October 2018. Topics addressed at proceedings are recorded in Hansard, the official these meetings included Government Advertising, Immunization, Metrolinx, Public Accounts, the 722 Independent Electricity System Operator, Settle- • May 1, 2018: Independent Electricity ment and Integration Services for Newcomers, Real System Operator—Market Oversight and Estate Services, Public Health: Chronic Disease Cybersecurity Prevention and Cancer Treatment Services. Many of • May 3, 2018: Public Accounts of the Province these meetings included hearings in which govern- • May 3, 2018: Metrolinx—Public Transit Con- ment and broader-public-sector witnesses were struction Contract Awarding and Oversight called to testify before the Committee and respond One of the 10 reports tabled by the Commit- to questions regarding observations contained in tee—Immunization—was based on a follow-up our reports. Other meetings were spent on Commit- report completed by our Office in our 2016 Annual tee business, writing the Committee’s reports, or Report. Five of the other reports tabled by the hearing briefings from the Auditor General. Committee addressed our 2016 value-for-money audits on Employment Ontario, the Ministry of Transportation, Child and Youth Mental Health, Physician Billing, and Large Community Hospital Reports of the Committee Operations. The four remaining reports tabled by the Committee addressed our Review of Govern- The Committee issues reports on its work for ment Advertising, Independent Electricity System tabling in the Legislative Assembly. These reports Operator—Market Oversight and Cybersecurity, summarize the information gathered by the Com- Public Accounts of the Province, and Metrolinx— mittee during its meetings and include the Com- Public Transit Construction Contract Awarding and mittee’s comments and recommendations. Once Oversight from our 2017 Annual Report. tabled, all committee reports are publicly available Of the 10 reports tabled by the Committee, there through the Clerk of the Committee or online at were two reports that included a Dissenting Opin- www.ola.org, as well as on our website at ion of the Members of the Progressive Conservative www.auditor.on.ca. Party. The Committee’s reports on the Review of Committee reports typically include recommen- Government Advertising and the Public Accounts of dations and a request that management of the min- the Province include an appendix at the end of the istry, agency or broader-public-sector organization report to outline the areas in which they disagree provide the Committee Clerk with responses within with contents of the report of the Committee. The a stipulated time frame. As of August 31, 2018, the Committee met subsequent to the public hearings Committee tabled the following 10 reports in the to write the Committee’s reports on these audits; Legislature since our last report on its activities: however, the Committee did not reach consensus Chapter 5 • December 6, 2017: Employment Ontario on the contents and recommendations of the • December 13, 2017: Ministry of reports, which is why there are dissenting opinions Transportation appended to two of the reports. • December 13, 2017: Child and Youth Mental In Volume 2 of our Annual Report, we included Health our follow-ups on the recommendations the Com- • February 22, 2018: Physician Billing mittee made in all of its reports. In each of these • February 22, 2018: Large Community Hospi- sections, you will find: tal Operations • the recommendations contained in the Com- • April 24, 2018: Immunization mittee’s report; • May 1, 2018: Review of Government • the auditee’s responses to the Committee’s Advertising recommendations; and Standing Committee on Public Accounts 723 • a table summarizing the status of each action the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority from the Committee’s recommendations (for (NPCA). Our special report on the NPCA was example, fully implemented, or in the process tabled in the Legislature on September 27, 2018, of being implemented). and our special report on Metrolinx was tabled as part of our 2018 Annual Report. In addition, on March 21, 2018, the Committee passed a motion for our Office to conduct

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