NDP Leader Howard Hampton says it’s time to toughen up the rules that let the McGuinty Liberals use public money as a political slush fund.

“Dalton McGuinty can’t fob off responsibility for this scandal onto one disgraced cabinet minister. The issue is not Mike Colle’s actions. It’s McGuinty’s attitude – his lack of standards, fairness and accountability. This is his responsibility and his failure,” said Hampton.

“Honesty, fairness and accountability should be the rule, not the exception when it comes to the spending of public money. It is time to toughen up the lax rules that let Liberal politicians shovel money out the door and cheat worthy organizations out of funds they need,” he said.

The report released today by Ontario’s Auditor General James McCarter confirms that a lack of fairness and accountability runs deep in the Ontario Liberal Party. Mr. McCarter found serious problems with the McGuinty government’s year-end grant program for cultural groups. The report documents a failed program with no application process, no criteria, no transparency and no accountability. And it bears out the fact that most cultural organizations in Ontario have been denied a chance to apply for millions of dollars in funding while public money in some cases went to groups with ties to the Ontario Liberal party.

Questionable grants include:

o The Iranian-Canadian Community Centre received $200,000 over a year ago. The group registered as a charity devoted to "protection of animals" only three weeks before. The Ministry ignored their own guidelines with regards to how long a group had to be established before it received funds. The group was registered at the law office of a Liberal riding association president and a provincial Liberal candidate sat on the board.

o The Bengali Cultural Society in Toronto received $250,000 based on a recommendation by Liberal MP Maria Minna. The vice-president of her riding association sits on the board of the group. Other Bangladeshi groups say they've never heard of the Society.

o The Chinese Professionals Association of Canada got $250,000. A former director is Citizenship and Immigration Minister Mike Colle’s policy adviser.

Groups that were shut out of the process include:

o The Hindu Samaj Temple in Hamilton was destroyed by fire in Ontario's only post-September 11 hate crime. Temple supporters and Hamilton community members who sought funds from the McGuinty government to rebuild were told there was no funding available even while McGuinty was handing out millions in grants.

o Bangladeshi Canadian Community Services, an organization that receives funding from the United Way and the City of Toronto, was never even informed of the program much less given the chance to apply for funding. Instead, $250,000 went to a group with Liberal ties. Some members of the BCCS felt the this was because they, individually, supported the NDP in the last election. This was confirmed by Liberal MP Maria Minna who told reporters "they made a choice to get involved in an election."

The Auditor General’s report comes after months of stonewalling by McGuinty and his government. McGuinty failed to answer hundreds of Opposition questions in the Legislature. McGuinty’s Liberal caucus used its majority to vote down attempts at committee and in the Legislature to have the Auditor General investigate. Even after McGuinty bowed to public pressure and called in the Auditor General, he evaded accountability by proroguing the Legislature the day before Mike Colle was to appear before a legislative committee to face questions about the slush fund.

“It’s time to bring fairness and accountability back to government,” Hampton said.