Ontario auditor general report: Here are the highlights

• The number of sick days being taken by school board employees has jumped 29 per cent since 2011-12, after the province stopped allowing teachers to bank their unused sick time and cash it out as a bonus upon retirement.
• Nearly one in six provincial government buildings is sitting empty. It's costing taxpayers $18.9 million annually to maintain 812 vacant provincially owned buildings.
• More than half of all biopsies, and urgent surgeries for nearly all types of cancer, are not being performed within the 14-day targets set by the Health Ministry.
• The province's emergency response plans have not been updated in eight years, while 80 per cent of all emergency practice tests happened in meeting rooms, not on the ground.
• The province's Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has failed to act on recommendations that could have saved Ontarians millions on their hydro bills. It has been warned repeatedly that its payments to private power plants were vulnerable to abuse.
• The government spent $58 million on advertising last year, more than it has in a decade. Nearly one-third of that spending was on ads designed "to make the government look good," the auditor said.
• There are more households on the waiting list for social housing (about 185,000) than there are social housing units in the province (167,000). Each year, only five per cent of people on the waitlists get a spot.
• The backlog of property assessment appeals is growing, even though the number of appeals filed has been dropping significantly in the past decade.
• Municipalities spent up to $4 million each on external legal fees and expert witnesses to defend their official plans at the Ontario Municipal Board, even though these plans had already been approved by councils and the province.
• Half of the farmers who received money from the province's $100 million-a-year fund to compensate for crop damage and unexpected price drops did not actually have lower income than they did the year before receiving the compensation.

MORE COVERAGE:

• Ontario auditor general finds wasted spending in health care, education and empty buildings
• Teachers and other education workers taking more sick days, Ontario auditor general says
• Ontario spending millions sending cancer patients to U.S. for stem cell transplants, auditor finds
• Ratepayers paid millions for power generators' expenses including scuba gear and car washes