Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

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CHART 16.1 Ontario Public Service Operating Expenses,
2010–11
Transportation
and
Communications
2%
Supplies
4%
Source: Ontario Ministry of Finance.
Services
26%
Employee
Benefits
20%
Salaries & Wages
48%
In addition to the operating expenditures outlined in Chart 16.1, the Ontario government
funded $109 billion in transfer payments in 2010–11. Of this, 45 per cent went to BPS
organizations such as Local Health Integration Networks (including hospitals), schools,
colleges and universities. 3 The remaining 55 per cent includes transfers to individuals,
municipalities 4 and other organization such as agencies, boards and commissions (typically
known as the ABCs).
Implicitly, a portion of the annual transfer payments made by the Ontario government is
directed to operating and back-office expenditures, though this portion varies by recipient.
Since a significant portion of labour costs is embedded in program spending, the figure of
$10 billion does not represent the full cost of labour to the province or taxpayers.
We estimate that labour costs amount to about half of all program spending.
3 Local Health Integration Networks and hospitals are discussed in greater detail in Chapters 5. Schools are discussed in Chapter 6,
while colleges and universities are the focus of Chapter 7.
4 Municipalities are discussed in detail in Chapter 20.