Amidst all the fire and fury of November's municipal and federal elections, Ontario Auditor General (AG) Erik Peters released his annual report. And now that the electoral smoke has cleared, his work - all 300 pages of it - deserves another look.

Since 1995, Premier Harris and crew have constantly reminded us that they're not the government: they're just here to fix it. Well Mr. Peters sure has found more than a few things that still need fixin'.

He notes that over 50%, some $30 billion, of annual government expenditures is funneled through arms-length or private agencies. However, these agencies do not fall under the purview of the AG's office. Therefore, Ontario taxpayers have no assurance that they are receiving value for 50% of their tax dollars. This is not accountable: it needs fixin!

Contracting out services or engaging private and/or not-for-profit providers to reduce costs or improve delivery is all fine and dandy, but it does not excuse the government from its governance functions to monitor performance and report back to and remain accountable to taxpayers.

Over at AgriCorp (Ontario's crop insurance plan) all is not well. According to the AG "AgriCorp failed to manage certain of its resources with due regard for economy and efficiency and on a number of occasions, failed to safeguard resources entrusted to it."

AgriCorp invested $325,000 in a speculative bond (read: risky day trading) venture; hired an investment advisor for $400,000 without tendering the contract; bought $14.5 million worth of reinsurance sole source; and tried to illegally funnel $10 million of Ontario Crop Insurance Fund monies to administration. AgriCorp definitely needs some fixin'.

Turning to health care, Ontario's approach to ambulance services is a mess. While local governments are now in charge of land ambulance services, in 1998, ambulances failed to meet local response benchmarks 50% of the time. In 1999, this number jumped to 60%.

As if waiting too long for an ambulance isn't scary enough, the AG also noted that in 36% of the cases where hospitals turned patients away from emergency rooms due to "emergency redirect" or "critical care bypass", their emergency rooms were not full. So it looks as though health care needs more than money, some management fixin' is in order as well.

Over at the Environment Ministry, things are even worse. Staff cutbacks of 25% have led to a 34% decrease in inspections of water treatment facilities (down from an average of 400 five years ago to 190 today) and other pollution sites. As a result, Ontario officials "usually learned of contaminated sites only after serious harm to the environment had already occurred."

Such revelations seem almost criminal. And speaking of convicts, Mr. Peters also pointed out that two new superjails are presently being constructed for Correctional Services in Penetanguishene and Lindsay in the absence of any sound and justifiable business cases.

Sticking with the law and order theme, it seems that some Ontarians made off with a "steal" when it came to 116 surplus government vehicles where the auctioneer's fees were higher than the actual selling price of the vehicles. In fact, one lucky Ontarian purchased a 1985 Chevy Celebrity for a paltry $24. But the transaction cost taxpayers $265 in auction fees. You can almost hear the caller now … "going once, going twice, sold for a pittance now where's my fat commission "

Ontarians elected the Harris Tories to cut taxes and balance the books. But they also elected them to be effective stewards of public dollars. This stewardship needs some fixin' … and quick.