Why are Ontarians ignoring the Liberal scandals?

It's no secret that the Ontario Liberal party comes to this election campaign with a lot of baggage.

After 11 consecutive years in office, the Grits have accumulated an impressive list of scandals, failures and embarrassments that have literally cost Ontario taxpayers billions of dollars.

Their political fumbles have included the gas plant scandal, E-health and the McGuinty slush fund.

And even during the campaign, the opposition parties continue to push stories of new scandals.

On Monday, the Progressive Conservatives released a damning safety report about Orgne -- the province's much-maligned air ambulance service.

Last week, they shed light on a story about the Liberal government's alleged $317 million secret bailout of a private company.

And the NDP are accusing some Liberal cabinet ministers of receiving taxpayer funded maid service.

But despite the growing list of scandals, the Liberals continue to perform well in the public opinion polls; according to some pollsters, there's a chance that they'll be re-elected come June 12th.

Do voters even care about the scandals?

[ Related: Ontario’s unions advocate for strategic voting to defeat Tim Hudak ]

Political consultant Gerry Nicholls says that sometimes they don't.

"The media tends to over-play the importance of scandals when it comes to voter attitudes. First off, most voters aren't paying that much attention to the news so they are only vaguely aware of scandalous behaviour; secondly, voters can actually be forgiving of even the most egregious scandal if they believe the scandalous politicians in charge also happen to be the most competent," he told Yahoo Canada News.

"In short, they'd rather have a leader who is ethically challenged but smart than a leader who is honest, but incompetent.

"The only time this rule doesn't apply occurs when voters are tired of a government. Then they will use scandals as an excuse to justify their decision to vote them out of office."

In that regard, the Liberals helped themselves by electing a new leader in Kathleen Wynne. Voters are likely less 'tired' of her than they would have been of Dalton McGuinty.

Four epic Ontario Liberal scandals:

1. Gas Plant scandal:

Within weeks of the October 2011 election, the Liberals issued a surprise announcement cancelling the Oakville and Mississauga natural gas power plant projects.

At the time, the announcement was seen as an act of crass politics to help save some Mississauga-area seats in what was a very tight election.

It's a decision that cost taxpayers a lot of money. In October 2013, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk pegged the cost of cancelling both plants at just over $1 billion.

There are now also allegations that McGuinty staffers deleted hard drives that contained information about the scandal.

2. Ornge:

In 2005, the McGuinty Liberals set up a non-profit body to manage its air ambulance service.

As explained by the Globe and Mail, the result was one big mess with allegations of exorbitant salaries, nepotism and kickbacks.

3. E-health:

In 2009, an auditor general's report suggested that successive governments wasted $1 billion of taxpayer money on E-health - an initiative to create electronic health records for that province.

For their part the Liberals were criticized for $16 million in untendered contracts, with some consultants paid up to $2,750 a day.

"Ontario taxpayers have not received value for money for this $1 billion investment," then auditor general Jim McCarter said in 2009, according to CBC News.

"When you have a lack of oversight, that's a lack of appropriate management."

4. The McGuinty slush fund

A 2007 auditor generals' report found that the Liberal's doled out $32 million in cultural grants with a process that "was not open, transparent or accountable."

"It was one of the worst I have ever seen, with virtually no controls," the AG wrote, according to the Windsor Star.

"Many organizations received grants simply because the minister of citizenship and immigration or his staff had some knowledge of their needs or because a member of the organization had had a discussion with, or had made verbal requests to, the minister or his staff."

One of the most wacky payments highlighted $1 million grant to a sports organization.

"One of the many examples highlighted by the Auditor General was a $1-million grant to the Ontario Cricket Association when the association only asked for $150,000," then MPP Tim Hudak wrote in an op-ed at the time.

"The association then deposited $500,000 of the funds in a GIC because they did not need the money."

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