Panel sides with Ontario in AG pension spat; means $10.7B is left off net debt

TORONTO – An expert panel has concluded in favour of the Liberal government in an accounting dispute with the auditor general.

The panel’s conclusion that public pension plan surpluses should be counted as assets gives the government $1.5 billion of breathing room in the same year it has promised to deliver a balanced budget.

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Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk‘s interpretation of the accounting rules would have added $10.7 billion to the net debt.

The issue was with the accounting of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Pension Plan and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which are jointly sponsored with the government.

Lysyk told the government that because it did not have a legally enforceable right to unilaterally access the assets, they should not appear on the balance sheets.

The government complained that it had been treating such assets the same way for the past 14 years, and called in an independent panel to settle the dispute.