The REAL Cost of the ORPP

Yesterday, we learned that the Wynne Liberal Government’s failed ORPP scheme cost Ontario taxpayers $70-million and delivered $0 in benefits. Here are some interesting facts we thought you should know:

• Six senior executives will receive $2-million in severance payments. This includes a number of senior Liberal operatives. It’s good to know that after fleecing taxpayers of $70-million, they at least take care of their friends. 
• Saad Rafi, the ORPP’s Chief Executive Officer, will receive $827,925 in total compensation for only 6 months of work. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because he was the Deputy Minister during the eHealth scandal, and responsible for bringing the Pan Am Games $342-million over budget. If you’re looking for the government’s next wasteful project, just wait to see where Premier Wynne appoints him next. 
• Neala Barton, the ORPP’s Senior Vice-President of Communications, will receive $316,816 in total compensation. She previously worked for the Ministry of Health during the eHealth scandal, and Premier Dalton McGuinty during the height of the gas plants scandal. Does scandal and waste just follow Liberals? 
• One ORPP employee received a total compensation of $341,418 for 15 days of work. That accounts for $22,761 a day! It is worth pointing out that this employee was awarded roughly the equivalent of every single Ontarians’ share of Ontario’s $300-billion debt for every day worked at the ORPP. 
• Employees whose contracts were terminated prior to the commencement of any services were awarded $601,000. That means people were paid more than half-a-million dollars to not work a single day! Life is only harder for some under the Wynne Liberals. 
• Despite repeated warnings from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters about the damaging costs of the ORPP, the Wynne Liberals continued to plough ahead. Are people still wondering why our province is bleeding jobs? 
• After conveniently gutting the Auditor General’s independent oversight of government advertising, the Wynne Liberals spent $8-million of taxpayers’ money on partisan advertising for the ORPP. The Auditor General said that she would not have approved the ORPP ads. The Government also spent $600,000 on advertisements during the 2015 federal election, while the issue was a heated campaign topic. Political interests trump the best-interests of our province yet again! 
• Premier Wynne appointed the new Associate Minister of Finance responsible for the ORPP, Indira Naidoo-Harris, to her already bloated cabinet seven days before they stopped all work on the plan. As a result, Minister Naidoo-Harris will earn an additional $21,715 in salary for having absolutely no new responsibilities. She will also have the benefit of more staff and chauffeured limos for transport. 
• The wasted $70-million on the ORPP is the equivalent of 64,073 maximum monthly CPP payments, or 5,339 years’ worth of maximum retirement payments. 

Once again, we thank Premier Wynne for bringing her government “closer to its goal of becoming the most open and transparent government in Canada.”