Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Recommendation 18-9: Establish a forum to discuss emerging issues and trends in the
underground economy as well as innovations and best practices for addressing them.
The forum should include representatives from various ministries, and federal and municipal
governments as well as industry associations.
Recommendation 18-10: The Ministry of Finance should take the lead by providing
assistance to municipalities in developing policy for the collection of unpaid Provincial
Offences Act fines in the province.
Recommendation 18-11: Use licence and registration suspensions as a tool to facilitate the
collection of Provincial Offences Act fines related to vehicles, including parking, speeding and
automobile insurance violations.
Recommendation 18-12: Allow fines to be added via the property tax roll by adding Provincial
Offences Act fines to the offender’s property tax bill, even if the property is jointly owned.
Recommendation 18-13: Offset tax refunds against unpaid Provincial Offences Act fines.
Recommendation 18-14: Require that recipients of government grants or refundable tax
credits, contracts, loans and loan guarantees are first in good standing with the government in
terms of accounts receivable and have no outstanding taxes due before providing assistance.
Recommendation 18-15: Require that all ministries record Crown debt receivables in the
enterprise financial system so that collection action can be commenced in a timely fashion.
Recommendation 18-16: Proceed with the 2011 Ontario Budget proposals by moving to
rationalize the collection of non-tax revenue between Ontario Shared Services and the Ministry
of Finance with the intent to consolidate, in a staged fashion, all non-tax and tax collection
functions into the Ministry of Finance.
Recommendation 18-17: Develop a legislative framework to provide the Ministry of Finance
with the authority to collect all provincial Crown debts and incorporate more effective
collections tools and mechanisms.
Recommendation 18-18: Develop standard policies and practices across the Ontario Public
Service for collections to ensure the optimum return for dollars spent.
Recommendation 18-19: Work with the Office of the Information and Privacy <strong>Commission</strong>er
of Ontario to ensure the protection of privacy in the implementation of these proposals.
Recommendation 18-20: Improve methods for information gathering and sharing across
government, including making greater use of the Regulatory Modernization Act, in order to
identify emerging and current issues to improve responsiveness in a compliance environment.
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