TORONTO - The legislature's summer break, which starts Friday, couldn't come soon enough for the Liberal government, which has been under constant fire over $5 million in untendered contracts and questionable expenses at eHealth Ontario.
Premier Dalton McGuinty on Thursday again dismissed calls for Health Minister David Caplan's resignation over eHealth, which was set up last fall after the first provincial agency tasked with creating electronic health records spent $650 million but produced virtually nothing.
"The opposition has raised some real concerns (and) I acknowledge those," McGuinty told the legislature.
"I think the fair thing to do is to allow our provincial auditor to look into this matter and to come back with some substantive recommendations."
The Conservatives and New Democrats have accused eHealth chairman Alan Hudson and CEO Sarah Kramer of giving Liberal-friendly firms lucrative contracts without taking competitive bids, and of allowing those high-paid consultants to bill taxpayers extra for minor items like a cup of tea.
The eHealth controversy overshadowed what will likely be a more long-term problem for the government and taxpayers -- the ballooning of the Ontario deficit from $500 million last fall to $18.5 billion by June.
Experts say a surge in stimulus spending, the rising costs of health care and other services, and a sharp decline in revenues are largely responsible for Ontario's rapidly inflating figure.
A large chunk of that deficit hike came after Ontario kicked in about $4.7 billion towards Canada's $15-billion rescue package for General Motors and Chrysler. It was a lot more than the province originally planned to spend and for a lot less than it had hoped to get in terms of production-level guarantees from the automakers.
The most surprising -- and politically risky -- legislation introduced in the spring session was a bill to allow Ontario to blend the eight per cent provincial sales tax with the five per cent goods and services tax into 13 per cent harmonized sales tax, to take effect July 1, 2010.
The government will send out cheques totalling $1,000 to families earning under $160,000 to offset the impact of the single sales tax, which will apply to many items previously exempt from the PST. Single people earning under $80,000 will receive $300 from the province.
The opposition parties call it a massive tax grab at the wrong time, but the Liberals insist it's part of a package that includes personal income tax cuts that will ultimately see most Ontarians paying less tax overall.
One of the other signature bills this spring was the Green Energy Act, which the Liberals promised would transform the economy, create thousands of jobs and make more room on the electricity grid for renewable energy.
It replaces a patchwork of local bylaws governing where energy projects can be located, and came with a stern warning from McGuinty that the province won't tolerate any objections to new wind turbines or solar panel farms that aren't based on safety or environmental concerns.
Environmentalists call it a "green wash" because Ontario's energy plan still relies heavily on nuclear power.
McGuinty has some key political decisions to make in the short-term following the sudden resignation of flamboyant Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant, who quit cabinet in May on the eve of the GM bailout even though he'd been leading the auto file for the province.
The premier will have to decide when to call a byelection in Toronto's downtown St. Paul's riding to replace Bryant. He will also have to shuffle his cabinet to find a new economic development minister, a role McGuinty took on himself when Bryant left to work for the City of Toronto.
Hamilton's Andrea Horwath took over leadership of Ontario's New Democrats and quickly forced McGuinty to backtrack after he suggested the province would forgo a scheduled increase in the minimum wage because of the faltering economy.
The second-term Liberals are "arrogant and out of touch" with ordinary people, said Horwath, who railed against the harmonized sales tax and cuts to corporate taxes.
"Despite being mired in the worst recession since the 1930s, Dalton McGuinty hits struggling Ontarians with an eight per cent tax hike on hundreds of every day items," she said.
"And profitable corporations will receive a massive tax giveaway of $4.5 billion over three years."
The Progressive Conservatives, meanwhile, were pre-occupied with a leadership contest to replace John Tory, who resigned in March after failing yet again to win a seat in the legislature.
The session ended Thursday with an all-party tribute to interim Conservative Leader Bob Runciman, who led the Opposition attacks in the legislature while the four Tory caucus members running for leader travelled Ontario signing up new party members and holding debates.
Speaker Steve Peters had the final word, ruling that Runciman's nickname of Mad Dog is unParliamentary language and cannot be used in the legislature.
