The Liberals' spring budget pledged free prescription medicine to everyone 24 and under, regardless of their household income or whether they have access to private health insurance through their parents.

This is a massive commitment that starts Jan. 1 and is budgeted to cost $465 million a year.

There are strong arguments for expanding public health care this way.

But it is obvious that as the Ontario government dramatically increases drug coverage, it must get the best value possible for every buck it spends.

Its record as a sound fiscal manager, however, is dismal.

Having driven up the cost of electricity by offering ridiculously generous subsidies for wind and solar generation, the province is borrowing billions of dollars more to give Ontarians rebates on their energy bills.

But as all this is happening, the auditor found Ontario ratepayers had to pay more to help cover as much as $260 million in ineligible power generator expenses.

So as Ontario voters consider all the new policies the Liberals are promising, they should remember how hard the Liberals struggle with the policies they've already put in place.

The warts of every government loom large under an auditor's magnifying glass.

Those of a Liberal government that has more than doubled Ontario's debt seem particularly ugly.

However, considering that government advertising hit a 10-year high of $58 million in 2016-17 and the auditor said 30 per cent of the ads seemed intended to make the government look good, it's likely the Liberals will find some makeup to hide those blemishes.