Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to present its Report on the Review of the 2016-2017 Public Accounts of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The review took place in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, from April 18-19, 2018.
The committee notes that the Consolidated 2016-2017 Public Accounts of the Government of the Northwest Territories received a clean audit opinion from the Auditor General and commends the Government of the Northwest Territories for this achievement.
Members of the standing committee would also like to take the opportunity to thank Assistant Auditor General Mr. Terry DeJong, Mr. David Irving, principal, and Ms. Michelle Smith, director, from the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), who traveled from Ottawa and Edmonton to assist the standing committee with its review.
The standing committee also wishes to thank Mr. Jamie Koe, Comptroller General, and officials from the Office of the Comptroller General in the GNWT's Department of Finance for their appearance before the committee.
As a result of this year's review of the 2016-2017 public accounts, the Standing Committee on Government Operations made recommendations in the following subject areas:
Timeliness of the Public Accounts
In 2016-2017, there were 22 entities consolidated in the public accounts. Seven entities failed to meet their original deadlines and failed to seek extensions as required by the Financial Administration Act, FAA. The committee discussed with the Comptroller General the possibility that smaller boards and agencies might benefit from a more formalized arrangement of support from the Office of the Comptroller General, such as a memorandum of understanding or service agreement. The Comptroller General expressed a willingness to consider this proposal if recommended to do so by the committee.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Office of the Comptroller General in the Department of Finance consider, and report back to the standing committee on, the utility of entering into service agreements or memoranda of understanding with GNWT boards, agencies, or other entities requiring support or assistance to complete their year-end financial reporting as required under the FAA.
Accounting Treatment of Public Private Partnerships
The standing committee acknowledges the improvements the GNWT is making to the manner in which it reports on P3 projects in the public accounts, given that the Public Sector Accounting Board standards have yet to be finalized.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories consider bringing together all of its information about P3 projects under one note in the consolidated public accounts, until such time as the new Canadian Public Sector Accounting Board Standards on the accounting treatment of P3 projects are put in place.
Public Reporting on the GNWT's Inventory of Contaminated Sites
With respect to the GNWT's environmental liabilities, the standing committee believes that the GNWT should be doing more to report publicly on its contaminated site inventory.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories make GNWT's inventory of contaminated sites available online, modeled upon, and with a level of disclosure comparable to, the Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory maintained by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
Compliance with the GNWT's Fiscal Responsibility Policy
The standing committee acknowledges the improvements that the GNWT has made to its reporting on the government's compliance with its Fiscal Responsibility Policy, but believes that there is room for improvement, to improve government accountability and transparency.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories, giving consideration to the observations made in this committee report, strive to improve upon the information in the Financial Statement Discussion and Analysis section of the public accounts that indicates how the GNWT has met the Fiscal Responsibility Policy provisions related to debt servicing and infrastructure financing.
Balancing the Protection of Privacy and the Disclosure of Information
The standing committee continues to have concerns with the way that the GNWT reports student loan remissions in Schedule 9 of the non-consolidated financial statements. To address the optics of including student loan remissions, which is a positive indication of a northern resident student's completion of higher education, with bad debt write-offs and forgiveness, the standing committee makes the following recommendation.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Finance give consideration to reporting student loan remissions in another schedule in the public accounts, separate from the schedule reporting bad debt write-offs and forgiveness.
Even with this change, the standing committee is still of the view that the degree of disclosure of information regarding student loan remission in the public accounts constitutes a potential invasion of privacy. Therefore:
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Finance, upon completion of a privacy impact assessment in 2018-2019 by the Information and Privacy Commissioner and having considered the committee's suggestions contained in this report, reconsider amending the Non-consolidated Schedule of Bad Debt Write-offs, Forgiveness and Student Loan Remissions to better protect the privacy of individuals.
Improving Accountability and Transparency
The standing committee was advised by the Office of the Auditor General that the GNWT is in the process of ensuring that annual reports of the government's boards and Crown corporations be translated into French.
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Finance continue its efforts to ensure that all annual reports required under the GNWT's Planning and Accountability Framework be translated into French and made available to the public in a timely manner.
Conclusion
Recommendation: The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this report within 120 days.
