CREDIT: OMBUDSMAN ONTARIO - PHOTOGRAPHER
Our province's ombudsman Andre Marin had former London councillor Stephen Orser wanting him to keep his nose out of city business.

The Ontario Ombudsman is the closest thing you can get to a political superhero, and thanks to Bill 8, he's about to get a whole new set of public sector organizations to investigate. The bill is a reimagining of The Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act proposed by Kathleen Wynne as a desperate bid to remain in office following the gas plant scandal.

The role of the Office of the ombudsman is to ensure transparency in the operation of public services pertaining to politics, healthcare and education. André Marin took the office in 2005 and immediately began to establish the most forthcoming social media identity held by a public official in Canada.

The ombudsman has already visited London a couple of times to respond to allegations that city council members were having clandestine meetings outside of City Hall, allegations he determined to be true.

The province has given Marin additional powers to examine government institutions and officials with the passing of Bill 8. The content of the bill broadens the ombudsman's mandate to include universities, school boards and hospitals.

The hospital oversight will come in the form of a patient ombudsman who would not be an independent officer of the legislature, but simply an individual working under the ministry of health, a key issue for anyone concerned with hospital reform. The additional oversight will fill a major gap in the structure for holding public-sector individuals and organizations accountable for their actions.

The provincial NDP was the only group to vote against the bill, declaring that it failed to address several of the party's key concerns.

The new level of oversight will give ombudsman Marin the ability to influence how over $30 billion is allocated for public services. It's unlikely that Marin is going to go on a slash and burn mission to get the public purse under control, however, the presence of an investigatory body with the ability to operate independently is likely to promote a culture of transparency anyways.

One of the goals of the bill is to give Marin the ability to prevent the kind of funding misallocation that has been the hallmark of the Ontario Liberal government. Premiere Wynne was forced to promise some form of oversight after the gas plant scandal, and it comes in the form of Bill 8.

Metaphorically speaking, it's like the fox convincing the chickens to vote for her, because she's going to give the keys to the henhouse to the ombudsman.

When the office of the ombudsman was investigating the meeting of London's city councillors at Billy T's restaurant, former councillor Stephen Orser made it no secret that he thought Marin should keep his nose out of their business.

Several municipalities have complained about the ombudsman's investigations for being trivial or unnecessary, perfectly illustrating why the ombudsman should have additional oversight. When publicly elected — and paid — individuals are flagrantly breaking the provincial transparency laws and then complaining about the investigation. The entitlement has reached new levels.
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