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MLAs troubled by findings
Daycares flout safety regulations and GNWT at risk of overpaying contracts: auditor general

Galit Rodan
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, March 28, 2012

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Auditor General Michael Ferguson fielded pointed questions and edgy comments from MLAs Monday after finding unsatisfactory progress by government departments tasked with responding to problems found in previous audits.

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Lead auditor Ruth Sullivan, left, principal Glen Wheeler, Auditor General Michael Ferguson and assistant auditor general Jerome Berthelette took questions from members of the standing committee on government operations at the legislative assembly, Monday. - Galit Rodan/NNSL photo

Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro chaired the meeting between the standing committee on government operations and the auditor general and his team of three staff, who are in Yellowknife to discuss the Status Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Northwest Territories legislative assembly, tabled Feb. 14.

The report assessed the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission; the NWT Housing Corporation; contracting for goods and services; and education - areas that had previously been the focus of performance audits conducted from 2006 onward. The follow-up report examined the progress made by government organizations in addressing previous recommendations made.

Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya said the housing corporation "needs a shake-up," adding, "The captain of the ship doesn't know where he's going and how he's going to get there. He's just sailing."

The auditor general found the housing corporation had made unsatisfactory progress in its monitoring of local housing organizations, which administer the corporation's public housing program. Universal Partnership Agreements between the corporation and the local housing organizations (LHOs) require, among other things, that the corporation conduct annual assessments to determine whether the organizations are functioning efficiently and according to the corporation's policies and procedures. In a 2008 audit of the housing corporation, the auditor general found that "the corporation was not performing the annual assessments, nor did it have a strategy for doing so. We also found that it did not otherwise monitor the LHOs."

Though the housing corporation agreed with the auditor general's recommendation that it perform the required annual assessments and monitor the application process for public housing, the recent follow-up audit showed little has changed.

The housing corporation is still not conducting annual assessments of operations in any of the local housing organizations, stated the report, and is still lacking a strategy for doing so.

Bisaro asked Ferguson whether, in his estimation, the corporation fully understood the magnitude of what was lacking.

Ferguson, however, on this occasion and several others, was careful not to compromise his status as a neutral third party.

"I think fundamentally the question is best directed to the corporation," he said, adding he couldn't speak for the corporation but felt it understood and agreed with the recommendation, repeated in the follow-up report, that the housing corporation prepare and submit annual reports to the responsible minister "in a timely manner."

Standing committee members were also troubled by the fact that of 44 contract files administered by the Department of Public Works and Services and the Department of Transportation in the 2009-2010 fiscal year - 34 per cent - contained one or more errors. Though this number was down from a previous audit, in which 57 per cent of contract files were found to contain one or more errors, "I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with that number, even if there has been an improvement," said Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny.

The auditor general found one instance where the government paid out $50,000 more than was contracted for.

"Errors in the administration of contracts place the government at risk of either paying too much for services or paying for goods and services that do not meet its needs," stated Ferguson in the status report. "We considered progress on contracting administration to be unsatisfactory."

Education was the last general area to be addressed and standing committee members largely focused on the finding that daycare inspection reports that found facilities with blocked fire exits, cleaning products and/or chemicals within reach of children and uncovered electrical outlets noted that only "minor changes" were required, as previously reported by Yellowknifer.

Ferguson also noted in his report that direction for conducting followups was lacking.

"Without proper followup on instances of non-compliance, children are at risk," he stated.

Yakeleya said he was "shocked" to hear of daycares that were non-compliant with safety regulations.

"Every alarm bell in my head goes off," said Dolynny, regarding the statement that children were at risk.

Ferguson pointed out that the department was doing the required inspections but its assessment of the seriousness of the hazard was cause for concern enough that the auditor general's office took the unusual step of contacting the deputy minister of Education, Culture and Employment as soon as the issue was identified.

Ferguson said he couldn't speak for the department but that he was hopeful it understood the importance of correcting the problem.

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley and Inuvik Boot Lake MLA Alfred Moses also attended the meeting.

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