Liberals will support Tory motion to have auditor general examine controversial payments to unions,

The governing Liberals will support a Progressive Conservative motion to have the auditor general probe controversial payments to education unions to offset bargaining costs.

Deputy premier Deb Matthews said Monday the Grits would back Tory MPP Lisa MacLeod’s move to have the watchdog examine the $3.74 million given to unions since 2008 to cover contract negotiation expenses.

“The answer is yes. We are supportive of having the auditor general look at this,” Matthews told the legislature. “We did provide support to both our education partners, teachers’ unions and school boards.

“The funds do not come out of the classroom; they come out of other changes to the contract. The money has not flowed. Unions will be required to provide accounting to show costs were incurred, and we will make those details public.”

MacLeod’s motion making the request of auditor general Bonnie Lysyk will be debated Wednesday at the Liberal-dominated standing committee on public accounts.

“This is good news for Ontario taxpayers,” said MacLeod.

“Money intended for kids in classroom should not be used in undocumented or unreceipted payouts to Liberal-friendly unions for attack ads during elections,” said MacLeod, referring to the anti-Tory TV spots teacher unions have bankrolled in every election since 2003.

Her motion does not request Lysyk to also delve into the additional $4.6 million handed to school boards to cover their bargaining expenses.

Under the new two-tier bargaining system, requiring separate negotiations at the local level with school boards, talks have been a lot longer and more complicated than in previous years. In this current round of negotiations, Queen’s Park has promised $1 million each to the secondary school and Catholic teachers’ unions and $500,000 to the smaller federation representing the French-language teachers. Robert Benzie, Queen’s Park Bureau Chief