Oversight? No! Undersight? Yes!
Lew Edwardson wrote the following as a comment on the post Lack of transparency at BC Hydro may conceal massive fraud. It deserves to be repeated in this separate post.…
Auditor-General
Troubling information from recent public disclosures
BC’s Auditor General says the 2022 surplus would be $6.5 billion higher if government followed Canadian Public Sector Accounting Standards. The surplus would have been $8 billion had government also…
UCP MLAs on Legislature committee block Auditor General from reporting findings on how government handled COVID-19
Alberta’s Auditor-General has completed six performance audits of the United Conservative Party Government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as you may already have seen on social media, Doug Wylie…
Toothless watchdogs
Sadly, the people of BC have been badly served by financial watchdogs who are paid to protect us. Perhaps the removal of Auditor General John Doyle some years ago was…
The auditor versus the label salesman.
It might not be a fair fight but Ontario voters are enjoying it. The ups and downs and the tantrums of former label salesman and now premier Doug Ford are…
The Auditor General’s Report: $1.6 Billion is NOT a Rounding Error
By a miraculous coincidence the Auditor General’s report on the Kenney government’s first year in office landed smack in the middle of the American election. Well, the election is over.…
Politicians shirk their duty… again #nlpoli
If the Auditor General starts the investigation of wetlands capping as requested by the Public Accounts Committee, then she will be acting illegally. The Auditor General has no authority to…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – The Guardian offers a few expert perspectives on how to fix the U.S.’ broken economic system. And Hassan Yussuff writes that the…
A few more suggestions on how we move forward…
Following Jody Wilson-Raybould’s testimony, yesterday, I had a few suggestions on how we move forward. Below are those initial suggestions… Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should: confirm mistakes have been made…
Dermod Travis warned us six years ago
“Government watchdogs are supposed to have teeth, not wear muzzles,” said IntegrityBC executive director Dermod Travis. “It’s difficult to imagine that any successor to John Doyle will not read the…
The lady doth protest too much
Ms. Bellringer is another highly paid failure. She did not protect taxpayers by examining for fraud when warning signals had been issued. Auditors have access that citizen watchdogs do not.…
Trust in AG is broken
If the Horgan Government and the LAMC allows Auditor General Bellringer to direct a re-examination of the Legislative Assembly’s financial records, that is a clear sign, they’ve made a choice…
Tax expenditures
Tax expenditures, represent a tax break that government offers people and corporations in support of policy objectives. It’s forgone revenue, or money that government doesn’t collect, but could if it…
BC’s failing grade in climate change
In a report issued today, Auditor General Carol Bellringer says the BC government is not adequately managing risks posed by climate change. She finds: Government has work underway to adapt…
BC’s natural gas revenues
This is a communication that I sent to the office of British Columbia’s Auditor General: I note that one of your works in progress is an examination of public revenues…
Poor mines enforcement undermines social licence
Wednesday, June 1, 2016 BC’s government accuses political opponents of being too keen to say “no” to development, but a recent report by B...
B.C. “attacks” Alberta. Really?
Thirty-six little words. That’s all it took for the media to whip Albertans up into a “how dare you” frenzy. It started with the BC government’s Throne Speech in which…
AG reports on suspected frauds in FY 2014 #nlpoli
In his most recent report, Auditor General Terry Paddon disclosed alleged frauds identified during his review of the provincial government's accounts:The finance department's Professional Services and Internal Audit Division discovered…
Small things and big differences #nlpoli
The Auditor General delivered his annual report on some of the provincial government’s programs and services on Wednesday. We learned, among other things that provincial government consulting contracts have gone…
What the NDP platform said about ethics in government
After 44-years of one-party government, Alberta voters stampeded to the polls to remove the Progressive Conservatives from office in the May 5 election. The defining narrative of the election was…