Angry in the Great White North

Michael Colle was Dalton McGuinty's minister of Citizenship and Immigration, until he was forced to resign over a scathing report from the auditor-general that revealed $32 million in year-end grants were essentially shoved out the door of the ministry with no oversight or formal process.

You might think that sending $32 million out the window would hurt a government's reputation for fiscal responsibility.

Greg Sorbara, the minister of finance, thinks otherwise:

Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara doesn’t believe a scathing report from the auditor general has tarnished the reputation of the Liberal government.

So far, the Vaughan-King-Aurora MPP said he hasn’t had any criticism from the public about the report.

“I’m hearing two things — constituents support the notion that we support newcomer organizations and two, they say that the auditor general’s report is good,” Mr. Sorbara said. “I have not heard one piece of negative feedback.”

I guess Greg Sorbara doesn't read the newspapers or blogs. Those are written by members of the voting public too, and they've been highly critical of Dalton McGuinty's stewardship of the public purse.

Greg Sorbara continues to spin away:

Stressing the Liberals called for the report, Mr. Sorbara said the government is already acting on recommendations from the auditor general.

Not quite an accurate quote. As I recall, the Liberals called for the reported because they were stressed by the unremitting drumbeat of questions and criticism over what appeared to be happening in Michael Colle's ministry.

What a lot of people are wondering about is whether that money is every coming back:

As I've commented before, the Sorbara family has long-standing and deep links with Villa Charities, which received $250,000 from Michael Colle's ministry, a grant that was listed in the auditor-general's report as one of the questionable $32 million in grants that forced Colle to resign.

As I pointed out, the Sorbaras could use their influence on the board of governors of Villa Charities to return the money and so set the tone of how this scandal was going to play out.

But instead, Greg Sorbara is satisfied to take a passive role:

While the minister said better controls need to be in place, he would not comment on whether or not he thinks the money that was awarded through the grants should be returned.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” Mr. Sorbara said. New Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Gerry Phillips, who replaced Mike Colle after his resignation last week, and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty are working on that issue, he said.

Why wouldn't the government want the money back and been seen as protecting the province's coffers against fiscal mismanagement, even if it was their own mismanagement?

Here's the problem, as I see it. It might very well be true that the $32 million was not distributed with political influence in mind. But now over a hundred organizations have gotten the money. Villa Charities might not need the $250,000 it received. But if the Sorbaras gave the money back, then the expectation would be set for all the charities listed in the auditor-general's report to give back the money.

Imagine the impact on the support for the Liberals if each of these ethnic groups was told to write cheques back to the government. Each would claim that they had done everything right to get the money, and that they were being unfairly treated by a Liberal Party thrashing because of the scandal. Groups would be pointing at other groups, saying that their sloppy bookkeeping or politically-inspired special treatment was putting the good work of the first group at risk.

To avoid that chaos, the Liberals instead are likely to say that the money ought not to be returned. Instead, the $32 million will be the price Ontario taxpayers will have to pay to keep the Liberals from paying the price they ought to be paying for the mess they've created.

Greg Sorbara is a smart man. He can figure this out. And so he demurs when the question is raised about returning the money. As I'm sure Gerry Phillips and Dalton McGuinty will dodge and weave when someone asks them whether it makes sense to recover money that has been determined to have been given out improperly.

Maybe politics did not play a role in giving the money away, but politics is likely the only consideration in deciding whether to ask for the money back.