Northern Ontario didn’t escape a scathing report from the provincial Auditor General.
Bonnie Lysyk has released her annual report and it indicates the Ministry of Energy didn’t properly manage the costs of two regional power projects.
Costs for the Mattagami River plant ballooned by $1-billion and the price for production doubled compared to similar projects.
The report also slams the government on its handling of the conversion of the Thunder Bay plant from coal to biomass, stating the cost is 25-times higher than from other biomass power generators.
She also found the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines has not effectively encouraged timely mining development in the province.
The government’s handling of electricity dominated the report.
It was noted ratepayers paid $37-billion more for electricity than they should have from 2006 to 2014.
It also indicates we may spend an additional $133-billion by 2032 due to the Liberal’s global adjustment electricity fees.
She also took aim at the Green Energy Act with guaranteed prices set at double the U.S. market price for wind and at 3.5-times the going rate for solar.
Lysyk says that would end up costing consumers $9.2-billion more for renewable energy over a 20-year period.
In other areas, she stresses problems remain at Ontario’s 14 community care access centres, five years after they were identified in a previous audit.
The report finds home care service levels vary across the province and waiting lists are troublesome.
Lysyk adds the Ministry of Children and Youth Services doesn’t oversee Children’s Aid Societies effectively and there is no master plan how Ontario’s Local Health Integration Networks should operate.
