The Honourable Ted Arnott, MPP
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly

Sir,

Your Select Committee on Financial Transparency has the honour to present its Interim Report and commends it to the House.

Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, MPP
Chair of the Committee

Queen's Park
November 2018

Select committee on Financial Transparency

Membership list

1^st Session, 42^nd Parliament

Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria

Chair

Doug Downey

Vice-Chair

Roman Baber                                                                                                Ross Romano

Catherine Fife                                                                                                Sandy Shaw

Robin Martin                                                                                                John Vanthof

Lindsey Park

Valerie Quioc Lim

Clerk of the Committee

Ian Morris

Research Officer

Nick Ruderman

Research Officer

The Select Committee on Financial Transparency held public hearings between October 15 and October 23, 2018, on the report submitted by the Independent Financial Commission of Inquiry.

· On October 15, 2018, the Committee heard from Bonnie Lysyk, Auditor General of Ontario (Auditor), for approximately five hours of testimony. The Auditor was joined by Tim Beauchamp, former Director of the Public Sector Accounting Board, to answer questions.

· On October 16, 2018, the Committee heard from a panel of senior officials from the Ontario Public Service including Steve Orsini, Secretary of the Cabinet; Scott Thompson, Deputy Minister of Transportation; Serge Imbrogno, Deputy Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks; and Karen Hughes, Associate Deputy Minister of Treasury Board Secretariat, for approximately two hours and 30 minutes of testimony.

· On October 22, 2018, the Committee heard from Gordon Campbell, Dr. Al Rosen, and Michael Horgan, Commissioners of the Independent Financial Commission of Inquiry, for approximately five hours of testimony.

· On October 23, 2018, the Committee heard from Peter Weltman, Financial Accountability Officer and other employees from the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) including Matt Gurnham, Director; Matthew Stephenson, Senior Financial Analyst; Jeffrey Novak, Chief Financial Analyst; and Peter Harrison, former Chief Financial Analyst, for approximately two hours and 30 minutes of testimony. The panel was joined by David West, Chief Economist of the FAO, to answer questions.

The hearings are ongoing and to date, over four days, the Committee has heard from 15 witnesses during approximately 15 hours of testimony.

Committee Mandate

On October 2, 2018, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario passed a motion to appoint a Select Committee on Financial Transparency to consider and report to the House its observations and recommendations with respect to the report submitted by the Independent Financial Commission of Inquiry, and to investigate and report on the accounting practices, decision making and policy objectives of the previous government or any other aspect of the report that the Committee deems relevant.

The mandate stipulates that the Committee table an interim report by November 1, 2018, and its final report by December 13, 2018, or on a date to be determined by the Committee.

See Appendix 1 for the complete Committee mandate.

Appendix 1

Mandate of the Select Committee on Financial Transparency

That a Select Committee on Financial Transparency be appointed to consider and report to the House its observations and recommendations with respect to the report submitted by the Independent Financial Commission of Inquiry; and

That the Committee investigate and report on the accounting practices, decision making and policy objectives of the previous government or any other aspect of the report that the Committee deems relevant; and

That the Committee have the power to send for persons, papers and things; and

That the Committee be composed of six members of the party forming the government, three members of the Official Opposition, and that the Chair and Vice-Chair shall be members of the party forming the government; and

That the Committee be authorized to meet at the call of the Chair; and

That the Committee be given priority to use the Amethyst Room for its meetings; and

That the Committee shall present, or if the House is not meeting, release by depositing with the Clerk of the Assembly, its interim report by November 1, 2018 and its final report by December 13, 2018 or on a date to be determined by the Committee.