Ontario streamlines transfer payments to non-profits, cities
New system will slash business support program payment pacts by 65%
Non-profits and municipalities that receive funding from the provincial government won’t have to deal with multiple agencies anymore, as part of a streamlining of services being ushered in by Treasury Board president Peter Bethlenfalvy.
At a speech in Toronto on Thursday, Bethlenfalvy announced the “Transfer Payment Consolidation Smart Initiative,” saying it will allow service providers to “focus more time on delivering programs and services that matter to the people of Ontario by simplifying how they receive government funding.”
“We are modernizing government transfer payments,” Bethlenfalvy said. “We are simplifying transfer payments so that our service partners can spend less time on paperwork, and more time making a real difference in the lives of the people they serve.”
He added that “smarter, more efficient transfer payments will allow the thousands of partners who deliver programs and services on behalf of government to focus their efforts on what they do best — delivering vital services to Ontarians in communities across our province. This is part of our plan to build a smarter government that focuses on outcomes and delivers better results.”
The move is a long time coming for agencies, especially child-care centres, overburdened with the duplication of
dealing with numerous government bodies.
The province recently merged their payment agreements, cutting the number of agreements in half, and decreasing the number of financial reports from three to two.
The 58,000-member Ontario Nonprofit Network “has been actively working alongside the non-profit sector to reform the way transfer payment agreements are done. We are pleased to hear that the Ontario government will make transfer payment reform a priority,” executive director Cathy Taylor said in a written statement.
“This is an important opportunity to modernize funding agreements so that both nonprofits and government spend less time on paperwork, and more time delivering services that support Ontarians.”
The province has already merged three business support programs into one, and “this will reduce the total number of transfer payment agreements by approximately 65 per cent, streamlining reporting requirements for each support program by the same number over a three-year period.”
Bethlenfalvy said the streamlining initiative began with the “line by line review our government undertook after the election in 2018 … and growing out of the extensive consultations and careful planning we have pursued since, we are now seeing our efforts transform the culture of government. That transformation is producing concrete, sustainable and widereaching success — for businesses, for non-profits and for our government.”
The treasury board is also moving toward an online-first system for Ontarians seeking to renew driver’s licences or health cards, and increasing the number of services available, in a bid to save money and give people more options.
Bethlenfalvy said he’ll soon announce details of changes to procurement processes that he estimates will save $1 billion a year.
The board is moving toward an online-first system to renew driver’s licences or health cards