I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this report within 120 days.
A motion is on the floor. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Does committee agree that consideration for Committee Report 3-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the Office of the NWT Languages Commissioner Annual Report 2010-2011, be concluded?
Agreed.
Moving on to Committee Report 4-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the Status Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Government Operations has presented its report on the Review of the Status Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. The committee’s report, which includes nine recommendations, was read into the record by the members of the committee. With the Assembly’s unanimous consent, the motion was passed to move the report into Committee of the Whole for discussion today.
The standing committee thanks the Auditor General of Canada and their staff for their work. The status report examines government’s progress in addressing specific recommendations from four previous performance audits. The recommendations concern programs and services of the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, and the departments of Finance, Transportation, Public Works and Services, and Education, Culture and Employment.
While the Auditor General rated the government’s overall progress in acting on the recommendations of previous audits as satisfactory, the committee is concerned that this rating is really only a bare pass. Members were struck by the Auditor General’s observation that the NWT government’s ability to effectively manage programs was limited by three serious government-wide barriers:
inadequate information to manage programs and make decisions;
insufficient monitoring of third-party program delivery; and
an absence of detailed action plans clearly setting out how and when organizations intend to implement recommendations made in the audit reports.
The standing committee strongly recommends a coordinated approach led by the Premier to tackle these barriers.
With regard to the Auditor General’s department-specific recommendations the committee was shocked to learn that some government inspected daycare centres were not following health and safety requirements and the Department of Education has not set procedures for following up on the deficiencies. This is unacceptable and must be addressed immediately.
The Auditor General also found that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation has not improved its monitoring of local housing organizations, and has not developed a strategic plan that identifies priorities and links actions to its mandate. The committee is confident that the Housing Corporation can, and will, improve in these areas.
Finally, the Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works and Services have taken steps to improve their contract administration. Nevertheless, preventable errors were found in one-third of the contracts audited. The committee expects both departments to show further progress within this fiscal year.
The committee commends the government organizations for their efforts to implement the Auditor General’s recommendations and urges them to make greater effort in the areas where the Auditor General found progress to be unsatisfactory or incomplete.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. We’ll open up the floor to general comments. Question? Thank you. We’ll move to Ms. Bisaro.
