TORONTO - Here are the highlights of the annual report from Ontario auditor general Jim McCarter:

  • Ontario drivers pay significantly more for auto insurance than motorists in other provinces due to high claims costs.
  • The LCBO is not taking advantage of its clout as one of the world's largest buyers of alcohol to get lower wholesale prices and increase its profit margin.
  • The Liberal government needs to strike an appropriate balance between promoting its green energy policies and the higher electricity prices that result.
  • The Minister of Finance owes the public an update on the controversial debt retirement charge, which was $7.8 billion in 2002 when the charge was established, while ratepayers have paid back $8 billion since then.
  • The government needs to determine if the hundreds of millions of dollars extra it's paying doctors each year is actually resulting in improved care and better access to a physician.
  • Ontario spends more per capita on legal aid than any other province, but helps the fewest number of low-income residents with dedicated legal representation.
  • The province isn't doing an adequate job of tracking how 400 local social service agencies spend the nearly half-a-billion dollars in funding they get each year.
  • The Ontario Trillium Foundation has little documentation to prove the $100 million it gives out each year goes to the most worthy projects or that the funds were spent as intended.
  • The Ontario Children's Lawyer only meets its investigation deadline in custody and access cases 20 per cent of the time and doesn't have a strategy in place to address the delays.
  • The Ministry of Natural Resources needs to do a better job of making sure private forestry companies actually replant in areas where they harvest trees.