Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In February 2006 and again in March 2007 I made a Member’s statement on the need to perform regular performance or value for money audits on Crown corporations owned by the GNWT. In response to my repeated questions, the Finance Minister indicated this was something he was willing to examine. Well, another year has gone by, and I have yet to hear from the Minister, or even the new Minister, to see or hear about any concept being implemented.
We all know that Crown corporations are subjected to annual financial audits by the Auditor General’s office, which examines the books and ensures the financial reporting practices are in accordance with recognized accounting principles. While this is a valuable exercise, Mr. Speaker, it does not provide the directors of the Crown corporations or the shareholders — which are the residents of the NWT as represented by this government and our MLAs — with the indication that the Crown corporations’ resources are being managed efficiently and that the operations are being carried out as effectively as possible.
Mr. Speaker, one of the most important roles of Regular Members is to hold the government to account for the use of taxpayers’ money. Regular performance audits of Crown corporations are especially important, because Regular Members do not review the yearly budget and business plans of Crown corporations like we do for regular departments. This is a lack of direct oversight on the part of the elected MLAs for our Northerners at large. We have seen the benefits of performance audits. Most recently the NWT Housing Corporation was under an audit by the office of the Auditor General. As a result, significant issues were identified, and a work plan to address these operational issues is now being implemented. There are a number of other government owned entities, like the NWT Power Corp, that would benefit from a regular performance audit to help address many of the questions and concerns Northerners have about that operation.
We have an opportunity through the revision of the Financial Administration Act to address this gap. The Auditor General’s Office has agreed to work with this government on this problem. We need to recognize and partner with them to make sure this happens.
Mr. Speaker, I will be raising this issue during question period later today. Hopefully the government will finally move forward on this initiative.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
