Auditor exposes failure of contracting out

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has called for an immediate end to contracting out of highway maintenance, in the wake of a devastating report by the Ontario Provincial Auditor.

The report, released today, highlights the totally bogus nature of out-sourcing as a money-saving public policy at the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

In addition a lack of any documented evidence of savings, the Auditor points to serious health and safety concerns that have arisen from the Tory practice of handing highway maintenance to the private sector.

OPSEU warned the government about this before it began contracting highway maintenance two years ago.

"This proves taxpayers didn't save money by contracting out. I guess what really matters to the government is not highway safety and maintenance, but only to satisfy its corporate friends," OPSEU President Leah Casselman said.

The report notes the inadequate monitoring of health and safety standards in privatized areas. The Auditor also saw selling off public highway equipment and then listing

the revenue as an attempt to "cook the books". He pointed to evidence that the government had double counted, inflated the estimated cost of the work as performed by public employees.

"The Auditor's Report confirms what OPSEU has been saying all along about the government privatizing roads, it's too expensive, it's too dangerous and public workers were doing a much better job," Casselman said.

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