The provincial auditor-general will be asked to investigate $3.74-million in payments the Wynne government has made to teacher unions over the last seven years.

Tory MPP Lisa MacLeod plans to table a motion in a legislative committee Wednesday asking Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk to look into those payments, as well as the $4.6-million the government gave school boards for their bargaining costs.

The vote on the motion will happen next week.

Education Minister Liz Sandals has defended the payments as being necessary because the transition to a new bargaining system made this round of talks quite lengthy.

And the ministry’s said it was appropriate to make similar payments in 2008 and 2012 to three education unions because it involved voluntary discussions that were a precursor to the new system.

Sandals also says the looming investigation does not concern her.

MacLeod, vice-chair of the public accounts committee says it ”doesn’t look good” that the Liberals have given millions to some of the same unions that spent money on anti-Tory ads during the last provincial election.