The PC government spent $7.2 billion, or 3.9 per cent, less than planned in the 2021-22 fiscal year, according to a new Financial Accountability Office report.

While the PCs sought $6.8 billion in additional spending authority through the supplementary estimates — which brought the total allowable spending to $185.1 billion for the last fiscal year — the government spent $177.9 billion by March 31, 2022, the FAO found.

All sectors spent below what was planned, led by "other programs" ($2.4 billion), health ($1.8 billion), and interest on the debt ($600 million). There was also $1.8 billion left in a contingency fund.

"Key programs with lower-than-planned spending in 2021-22 include the COVID-19 Response program ($1.1 billion or 42 per cent less than the $2.6 billion planned) and the property tax component of the Property Tax and Energy Costs Rebate Grants program ($0.2 billion or 43 per cent below plan)," the FAO said in a release.

The tax rebate program is included in "other programs," and is $1 billion less-than-planned spending by Metrolinx on capital.

The additional savings will be used to pay down the debt and deficit, the FAO said. The savings were less than those recorded in fiscal year 2020-21, when the government saved $10.3 billion, but higher than the $3.8 billion saved on average from 2010-11 to 2019-20.

The FAO projects an $8.1 billion budget deficit, which is $5.4 billion less than the PCs projected in the 2022 budget. The FAO projected government revenues for the last fiscal year would be $1.6 billion higher than what the budget said, which helped bring down the deficit number.

The province updated its spending plan late last year as the Omicron variant was causing a massive surge in COVID cases. The government planned to spend an additional $3 billion on health services, and nearly $500 million for long-term care homes.

The province also decreased planned spending in certain areas, including a $735 million drop in financial and employment supports (Ontario Disability Support Program, Ontario Works, and the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan). Other decreases include a $533 drop in capital grants and infrastructure programs at elementary and secondary schools, and a $303 drop in post-secondary financial support programs.

Premier Doug Ford's director of media relations disputed some of the FAO's findings in a series of tweets.

"These are application-based programs that are entirely demand-driven," Yelich said. "Less people accessed the funding available than what was forecasted by the government. Characterizing this as a cut is simply not true."

ODSP and OW data obtained by QP Briefing shows applications to both programs have dropped over the course of the pandemic.

In March 2020, just over 380,000 Ontarians were on ODSP. The most recent figures, from March 2022, show just over 370,000 people used the program. Each reporting period, done every three months, shows about 0.4 per cent fewer people on the program. While overall case numbers were dropping, the number of people accessing ODSP for 60 consecutive months, the longest term available in the data, going from 248,000 in March 2020 to 261,000 in March 2022.

OW data paints a somewhat similar picture. Just under 245,000 people used the program in March 2020, dropped to 178,000 in September 2021, before jumping to 206,000 by March 2022.

The drop in demand was largely due to "the extraordinary amount of federal money" that "came into the system through (the Canada Emergency Response Benefit) and other COVID supports," said Financial Accountability Officer Peter Weltmen.

In a statement, NDP Finance critic Catherine Fife called the province's underspending "cuts by stealth," as the province grapples with ER closures and staffing shortages.

“In health care and education, people are begging for investment to attract, train, hire and retain the staff we desperately need,” said Fife. “It’s time to invest to rebuild and improve the public services we all count on.

“It’s dangerous and callous to be making in-year cuts to health care when our hospitals are barely hanging on by a thread,” NDP Health critic France Gélinas said in the same statement. “People are waiting in pain for procedures and surgeries backlogged by the pandemic. People are waiting for hours on end in ER waiting rooms. Terrifyingly, some people arrive at an ER or urgent care centre only to find the doors locked and the lights off.”

Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter lodged similar critiques.

“While our front-line health-care heroes were fighting the Omicron COVID-19 wave earlier this year, the Ford government chose to not spend the $1.8 billion it had in the contingency fund to support them. This decision contributed to the crisis we now have with hospital emergency room closures across Ontario,” Hunter said in a statement.

“Making the situation even worse, according to (the FAO's) unaudited spending numbers, (the government) underspent an additional $1.8 billion on health that they had budgeted for 2021-22 fiscal year.”

Green MPP Mike Schreiner also focused on the FAO's health care findings.

"It’s shameful and inexcusable to underspend on health care while nurses and other health care workers are burnt out, emergency rooms are overflowing if not closing outright," Schreiner said in a statement.

"Ontarians are paying the price for Ford’s failure to invest in what matters to people. We need urgent action that starts with fair wages and better working conditions for exhausted health-care workers. If this government really cared about repairing our health-care system, they would invest in the people who deliver care by providing for fair bargaining and improving working conditions."

FAO: PCs spent $7 billion less than planned in last fiscal year

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