Auditor General Slams Ford Conservatives for Unacceptable ER Closures and Unsubstantiated Science Centre Relocation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
​December 6, 2023

TORONTO, ON — Bonnie Crombie, Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, released the following statement in response to the Auditor General’s 2023 Annual Report:

"Today’s report released by the Auditor General of Ontario reaffirms just how incompetent and out of touch this failed Conservative government really is.

The report paints a startling picture of how Doug Ford deliberately allowed Ontario’s healthcare system to deteriorate under his watch, while he embarked on personal pet projects like moving the Science Centre to Ontario Place.

This government deliberately starved our hospitals of funding to justify more private, for-profit clinics. They have no province-wide strategy to help hospitals prevent emergency department closures. When our healthcare system is struggling to keep up with the demand for critical services and nurses and healthcare professionals are leaving the profession at an alarming rate, Ford and his Conservatives instead prioritize for-profit corporations and undermine the care our loved ones desperately need. This failure is unacceptable.

The report also makes it clear the decision to relocate the Science Centre was not in the best interest of Ontarians, but rather a personal pet project of the Premier. The Science Centre is being used as a pawn to fulfill Ford’s mysterious contract with Therme, which will privatize Ontario Place to benefit a foreign company.

The Ford Conservatives are in an out-of-control spiral, and have no plan to tackle the most important issues facing Ontario families: making their lives more affordable, ensuring families have access to world-class healthcare and education, and that we have a plan to protect our planet.

Ontario Liberals will fight to make life better for you and your family, and hold this dishonest government accountable for their mismanagement of Ontario — all while we work to defeat them in 2026 to bring back a government on your side."