Auditor Says Ontario Liberals ‘Bailed Out’ MaRS with $224-M Loan

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Ontario’s Auditor-General, Bonnie Lysyk, has mentioned in a recently published report that Ontario Liberal government’s $224-million loan to the troubled MaRS research tower in Toronto seems to be nothing less than a “bailout” of the non-profit innovation hub. According to the new report, there were numerous other problems with the project that weren’t exposed until now, including the fact that two government-funded anchor tenants are paying well above market rent for their space in the 20-storey building.

Lysyk’s investigation of the MaRS loan was published Tuesday as part of her annual report. The report blatantly criticized the Liberals for failing to clarify or justify why it made such huge commitment to the second phase of the Medical and Related Sciences initiative despite several vital risks highlighted in 2010 by Infrastructure Ontario, i.e. the government agency that made the loan.

Ms. Lysyk stressed that “there was a lack of transparency surrounding the government’s support for its research and innovation agenda through this loan.” In addition to that, Ms. Lysyk also added that “no related performance measures were established for the government to determine whether its intended research and innovation outcomes were, or will be, achieved with this project. The lack of transparency regarding the policy objectives and outcomes to be achieved from this loan creates the perception that this transaction was a ‘bailout’ of a non-government organization.”

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