Copied from the Official Records for December 09, 2008
CORRECTIONAL FACILITY EMPLOYEES
Mr. Robert W. Runciman: Back to the Premier. The people of this province are not the dupes you think they are and the police know that the person not doing his job is that minister.
Premier, again, back to the Auditor General's report in speaking to incompetence and mismanagement, which seem to be the order of the day with respect to his commentary. Particularly glaring, I believe, is the blatant abuse of sick leave among jail guards, taking an average of 32 days of sick leave a year. That's an increase of 63% since 2001, costing Ontarians $20 million a year. Premier, how could you have allowed this to happen? Is your minister AWOL on this file as well?
Hon. Dalton McGuinty: I want to thank the auditor as well for this particular advice. Obviously, that rate of sick leave is unacceptable. There is obviously a serious problem associated with this. I've asked the minister to take a careful look at this, but I want to say to Ontario taxpayers that this is an unacceptable rate of absenteeism and sick leave. We're not prepared to accept it. We will do the necessary work to find out more precisely what is causing it and we'll do everything that we can to address it.
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The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary?
Mr. Robert W. Runciman: Well, last time I checked, this government had been in office for over five years. I will admit this has been a consistent problem in the system, but it has doubled on your watch. That's how significant this problem has become. The Auditor General pointed to one corrections facility that was privately operated until your ideological closure. When the government took over operation of that jail, privately operated, absenteeism jumped by 55% in one year. Talk about incompetence and mismanagement. Premier, I ask you again, why should Ontarians have any faith in terms of your government knowing how to manage their tax dollars efficiently? What specific steps are you taking? Let's hear some specific steps today, not these generalities. How are you dealing with this problem?
Hon. Dalton McGuinty: The Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services can speak to that.
Hon. Rick Bartolucci: I thank the member again for the supplemental question. We have implemented a program to track absenteeism in our correctional facilities. We will continue to do that tracking. We will continue to work in a very, very proactive way with our partners in correction, the union and all levels in the correctional services part of our ministry, to ensure that we reduce that number, because, as the Premier said, that number is too high. It's not acceptable to me; it's not acceptable to this government; it's not acceptable to the opposition. And do you know what? It's not acceptable to the correctional services officers also.
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Final supplementary.
Mr. Robert W. Runciman: What an enlightening response: "It's not acceptable." The minister, I think, has been in his job for over a year now. I have to suspect-he seemed to be completely caught off guard yesterday when he was asked about this, which has to be surprising, shocking and alarming with respect to this problem.
This problem has grown under his government's watch, dramatically grown. We're looking at this province being in a recession, hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs, and you have government employees taking over a month off-paid leave, effectively. Over a year on the job, five years plus that this government has been in office, and you don't have anything but generalities, again saying, "We're concerned. We'r e concerned. We're concerned." Well, Ontario taxpayers, hard-working, honest Ontarians, want action, not words like " Concerned, concerned." When are you going to do something? Let us know what the specifics are.
Hon. Rick Bartolucci: Well, let me speak a little bit more slowly, then. We have implemented a program to track absenteeism in our correctional institutions. I think that's very proactive. We will continue to work with our partners in correctional services to diminish that number. I think that is proactive. And we will continue to be very proactive with all our partners to ensure that that number comes down. We've all agreed that that number is too high, and we're going to work together to ensure that the number comes down.
