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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The auditor general of Canada has both criticized and praised the GNWT in a recent report.

The Feb. 14 report from Michael Ferguson looks at the progress - or lack thereof - on commitments made by the GNWT following four performance audits between 2006 and 2010. The earlier reports were on processing workers' compensation claims, public housing and homeownership programs, contracting for goods and services, and education and training programs.

Ferguson was particularly critical of the NWT Housing Corporation in the Status Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly.

The report notes the housing corporation has improved monitoring of local housing organizations (LHOs) since 2008, but describes the progress as unsatisfactory.

It also states the corporation has not completed annual assessments of LHO operations; monitoring has not improved on LHOs assessing and allocating requests for housing assistance in compliance with policies and procedures; and there has been unsatisfactory progress on developing a strategic plan.

Robert C. McLeod, the minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, said there is a good relationship between the corporation and LHOs.

"I don't think it's as bad as the report seems to indicate," McLeod said. "I think there are areas that we can improve on, obviously, but I think for the most part the housing corp. has always tried to work with the LHOs as closely as possible and try to monitor a lot of the activities of the LHOs."

McLeod added a new territorial housing information management system will be launched in April.

"It's to record and process tenant applications and just to help us improve our LHO monitoring."

As for the auditor general's criticism of the lack of a strategic plan, the minister noted there is a current strategic plan called a Framework for Action 2008-2011.

The auditor general did note the housing corporation has made satisfactory progress in managing its homeownership program and has taken steps to ensure mortgage receivables are collected.

McLeod said he is pleased with the homeownership program.

"A lot of the work that was getting done didn't just get done because of the auditor general's report," he said. "It was work that was going to get done anyway."

The auditor general's report does not just deal with the NWT Housing Corporation.

It notes the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission has made satisfactory progress since 2006 to improve processing of workers' compensation claims, and to make timely decisions and payments.

The Department of Finance is noted as making satisfactory progress since 2009 to improve contracting for goods and services. As for the Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Works and Services, they have taken some steps to improve administration of contracts, but overall their progress is deemed unsatisfactory.

The report also notes the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has made satisfactory progress since 2010 in monitoring education councils, but has not followed through on all the actions it committed to for 2010 and 2011. It has also made satisfactory progress on monitoring adult literacy and basic education programming.

However, the department is deemed to have made unsatisfactory progress on inspecting day care facilities, since not all are inspected annually as required by legislation.

In general observations on government operations, the report points to inadequate information to manage programs and make decisions, insufficient monitoring of third-party program delivery, and an absence of detailed action plans on how organizations intend to implement recommendations from previous audit reports.

Ferguson noted it is important for GNWT organizations to establish service standards, monitor performance against standards, and take action to improve programming and services.

"However, we have observed that territorial government organizations' ability to manage programs is limited by a lack of data and by the quality of data it does collect," he wrote, adding a sustained effort is needed to improve the quality and collection of data, which is important for measuring and reporting on performance.

The auditor general noted many programs in the NWT are delivered through third parties, pointing out almost 50 per cent of territorial expenditures are allocated to third parties through grants and contributions.

"We appreciate the rationale that led to decentralization over the years," Ferguson wrote. "However, decentralized program delivery and the use of third parties to deliver programs can make accountability more complex."

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