Thousands spent on provincial government consultants in northern Ontario

One of the targets for the Ontario auditor general in this year's report was the use of consultants by provincial agencies. Several based in northern Ontario have been spending more on outside help.

Erik White · CBC News · Posted: Dec 21, 2018 7:02 AM EST | Last Updated: December 21, 2018

The Northeast Local Health Integration Network spent $355,000 on consultants and $282,000 on hired professional services in 2017/18. (Erik White/CBC )

Organizational changes at provincial agencies in northern Ontario saw a lot of consultants hired in recent years.

Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk raised concerns about the government's use of consultants in her report last month, finding that oftentimes the outside hiring is unnecessary.

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"The auditor general was looking at how consultants are used. Our approach has been utilizing it when having it as part of our employee base isn't possible," says Kate Fyfe, vice-president of performance and accountability for the Northeast Local Health Integration Network.

"We need to understand what the benefit of that use is and ensuring that is adding value to the business that we're supporting."

Her organization spent $355,300 on consultants last year, an increase of $70,000 over the year before, plus $282,500 on other professional services.

Fyfe says the increases are all related to the LHIN's merger with the Community Care Access Centres. Consultants were hired to help with the organizational transition and the hired professional services to support the larger workforce with employee services such as benefits administration.

Four cars from an Ontario Northland freight train came off the tracks and went into the nearby White Clay River, north of Kirkland Lake. (Ontario Northland)

The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission spent $242,000 on consultants in 2015-16 and then that budget line soared up to $1.4 million the following year and $680,000 this past year.

The bus and rail company says this was part of its transformation after years of struggling financially, and outside eyes were needed to change many different aspects of how Ontario Northland was run.

The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation spent $267,000 on consultants last year, about $200,000 more than the year before.

The Crown agency has not yet provided details on how that money was spent.