What an odd situation we have with the office of Ontario’s Ombudsman. On the one hand the office is staffed with about 80 employees who have the responsibility to ensure our tax dollars are spent properly. On the other hand they are not permitted to investigate some key departments. Just what message is our Provincial government sending to us beleaguered tax payers?
Mr. Marin is widely respected for the work of his department but, for some unknown reason, does not have oversight powers in municipalities, school boards, universities, children’s aid societies, long-term care facilities, and hospitals. You have got to be kidding me! Some of the largest spenders of our tax dollars and there is no oversight by the Ombudsman.
Something really stinks here.
It would be one thing if these departments were models of efficiency and transparency but nothing could be further from the truth. So it appears that Ontario’s government wants us to trust that they are spending our money effectively. With all due respect to our politicians, we want our Ombudsman to oversee ALL expenditures.
Those in the know acknowledge that our education system is failing our students, and their potential future employers, while the health care system is a funding black hole. What type of government would allow such a situation to develop and then flourish? Clearly it takes a government that is not in place to serve the tax payers but one that protects and rewards its friends.
Ontario needs a shake-up from top to bottom. It should start with giving the office of Ontario’s Ombudsman the power required to fully perform their function, and it should end with putting in place new leadership like The Parkdale Party.
A very strong case can be made to dramatically increase the size of Mr. Marin’s staff, and power. Any investment in this critical department will pay for itself many times over with increased efficiencies and improvements in the quality of management in our Provincial government.
About Walter Widla
g.e.n.i.u.s.
You don't really need to increase the size of the ombudsman office. 80 people is more than enough. Consider that a team of 5 professional auditors at any big accounting firm perform full audits on billion dollar businesses in 2-3 weeks.
What you really need is to empower the office to inspect and audit all and any enterprise that takes tax payers money. ESPECIALLY school boards and hospitals! Give me a break – my bro's so called "gifted" education taught him absolutely nothing but political correctness.
If the Parkdale Party pledges to fight for making the government CRYSTAL CLEAR TRANSPARENT you've got my vote.
Thanks for your comment AH.
It is our position that the Ombudsman's team should be larger because the real work to be done is at the huge middle management level of the public sector. This is where we have the greatest weaknesses and therefore this is where the the greatest return on oversight costs can be realized.
Try to imagine the size of the middle management sector within the organizations that the Ombudsman hasn't been allowed to look into. We need to investigate this group as quickly as possible and if we don't increase the size of the Ombudsman's team then it will take a lot longer to implement the required changes.
We are always cautious about increased expenditures within government but this is much more an investment than expenditure, and an investment that can bring huge rewards quickly.
With respect to transparency, we here at The Parkdale Party demand accountability from our public service sector and in order to have accountability we must have full transparency. By increasing the scope and power of our Ombudsman we will get the transparency that we need.