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Ontario’s multi-million-dollar payouts to teachers’ unions are a rarity unmatched in other provinces or for other public service unions, the auditor general has found in a report that also uncovered an additional $80.5 million in payments over the past decade-and-a-half.

Bonnie Lysyk’s review was sparked after media reports uncovered $3.79 million in payments from the government to teachers’ unions since 2008. The cash was reportedly to cover negotiating costs, a practice the auditor found was essentially unique to Ontario.

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“We found very little evidence of governments paying education-sector unions for significant bargaining costs elsewhere in Canada,” the report states. “Accordingly, Ontario is an outlier with respect to this use of taxpayer funds.

“We also found no evidence of the Ontario government paying other large public-sector unions for bargaining costs.”