The Ontario Government was on the defensive Tuesday after a new financial watchdog report showed the PCs had amounted $12 billion in unspent funds as of the end of September, at a time when schools were reopening and the province was in its second wave.
But Premier Doug Ford and one of his top ministers said the figure reflected the government's books at that point in time and a majority of the contingency funds have been rolled out.
The report by Ontario's independent Financial Accountaility Office was the first topic in Question Period in the Legislature.
"Why is the premier hoarding money and waiting for a vaccine instead of helping families who are managing this pandemic?" NDP Deputy Leader Sara Singh said.
The $12 billion was the total from the unallocated cash of three contingency funds: the COVID-19 Health Sector Response Fund, the Support for People and Jobs Fund and the Contingency Fund.
"The fact of the matter is the money is being spent," Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy said in response to the document.
The government cited the recent November budget document, with Bethlenfalvy saying $10 billion of the $12 billion has since been allocated since that date, including planned COVID19 spending in future years.
Finance Minister Rod Phillips has recently said that among the uses for contingency funds would be Ontario's portion of the vaccine distribution rollout, though what the province will pay for is unclear.
Still, Bethlenfalvy was pressed on why at a time when schools were reopening and contact tracing was being strained, that more money at the time had not been spent (Ford had said September 28th that Ontario was in its second wave.)
"The financial accountability officer can only work with the numbers he has, the contingency fund has been deployed," he said. "It'll show up in the numbers, it'll show up in the public accounts."
Bethlenfalvy also cited the same FAO report that showed a the province's spending for 2021 has increased $14.5 billion to $179.8 billion.
"Rest assured, notwithstanding moving numbers and accounting that the Government of Ontario and all of us are working around the clock and spending the money," he said.
Ford reiterated in Question Period the need for contingency funding down the road, saying the $2.6 billion they're forecasting will be crucial.
"We're going to be responsible," he said. "Rather than spend all the taxpayers money up front and then start looking for more money, we're being fiscally prudent."
FAO Officer Peter Weltman said we'll be able to get the full details on the government's spending early next year.
"The beauty of our report is that provides an actual against plans, so we'll see, we'll see when we do the Q3 Expenditure Monitor, which will show all spending and allocations and all spending as of the end of December," he said. "That report should probably come out around the end of January and we'll know."