Ontario's Minister for Citizenship and Immigration Mike Colle had to resign from the Cabinet on Thursday because of a damning report by the provincial Auditor-General, who took exception to him issuing a cheque for $1-million to the Ontario Cricket Association last year.
Auditor-General Jim Carter, in his report, said the OCA asked for $150,000 but the minister instead handed out a check for a million dollars.
Cole also gave money to several organizations without any formal written requests. In sum, he distributed around $30-million over two years to various cultural and religious ethnic organizations. In many cases money was given without formal applications, without written requests or allowing senior bureaucrats in his own ministry to examine those requests, including antecedents of the organizations that were on the receiving end of the tax payers' money.
The cheques were handed over to various organizations merely on the basis of their face to face meeting, their verbal requests, and Carter found that objectionable.
Toronto Star published the list of some of the organizations that received checks from Colle: Gursikh Sabha Canada ($100,000); Ontario Khalsa Darbar ($250,000); Shromani Sikh Sangat ($100,000); Sikh Heritage Center ($100,000); Sikh Spiritual Cetner ($100,000); Sri Guru Singh Sabha ($100,000).
Cheques were also handed over to several other South Asian, Iranian, Muslim and a whole lot of other organizations; Bengali Cultural Society received $250,000, Canadian Museum of Hindu Civilization $200,000, International Seniors Club of Brampton: $100,000, Islamic Institute of Toronto: $500,000, Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Toronto $250,000.
Coming back to the million dollar cheque to OCA, Mike Kendall, an Indo-Canadian, who is now president of OCA, told rediff.com that Errol Townsend was the president when Colle handed over the million-dollar cheque.
"I am not very privy to what transpired between the minister and the previous board of OCA. What I heard was that we asked for $150,000 for infrastructure improvement, like improving the pitch, and other facilities. But members of the previous board had also spoken with the minister about various needs that put together amounted to several million dollars to take cricket in Ontario to the next level."
Kendall said, "Had someone put some figures on paper, it would have been different, but that, as far as I know, didn't happen. But the fact is Colle understands cricket. He understands that without the government help we can't go to the next level and so he released that money."
They have already spent over $250,000 of the million dollars. They have half a million dollars in the bank; with that interest they are carrying out their activities like programs for school children, organizing inter-league plays, and so on, said Kendall.
Ontario has four cricket leagues and over 5,000 registered cricket players. They have invited the Indian team, and also Sri Lankan or Pakistani teams, to next year to play in Toronto.
Kendal was in London last month for the ICCC meeting where he met Sharad Pawar, head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and also its secretary, Niranjan Shah.
"They agreed to send the Indian team to Canada," Kendall claimed. "They said the team may not comprise all Test players but will have some Test players and that it will be an 'A' class team.
"Ontario recently hosted teams from the Netherlands and United Arab Emirates. We are soon likely to have some other countries coming and playing here," said Kendall.
The way the Auditor-General said in his report that instead of $150,000 that the OCA asked for they got a million dollar gives a negative impression about the Ontario cricket.
"I don't think so in the sense our books are all open. It is all transparent; anybody can look at our account books any time," said Kendall.
