Jim McCarter, Ontario's Auditor General, yesterday slammed the Provincial Government over its "wasteful spending" on things like the $1.2 Billion in "unjustified welfare and disability cheques" in times when the financial situation of the country is already fragile and the economic recovery is still unstable.

The McGuinty Liberals have been criticized by Mr. McCarter for various wasteful Governments spending which have essentially been results of "lax controls and inadequate government oversight". Particularly mentioned have been cases of widely overcharged medical equipment and a Government contract that pays almost the double of what other provinces are paying for the same service.

According to Mr. McCarter, the problem lies with the "mindset of some of those who manage and deliver government programs", and he asserted that the "Government and its employees must do a better job treating taxpayer money like it was their own".

The 491-page report criticizing the wasteful spending has come 2 months after the Auditor General's special probe into eHealth Ontario, a multi-billion dollar public agency, which the General has designated as the "worst example of public mismanagement and rule breaking"that he has ever witnessed.

Numerous other Government oversights have been listed in the full report which was tabled on Monday.