Auditor general report to tackle military health care, border rules
Canada's auditor general will shine a spotlight on the country's border controls andmilitary health-care system when she releases her latest report on Tuesday.
The report will examine the approach taken by Canada Border Services Agency when it comes to assessing threats and ensuring that there is a free flow of low-risk people and goods across Canada's border.
"We looked at how the agency identifies and intercepts people and goods that represent a high risk to Canada," states a preview of the report, published on the auditor general's website.
The preview also promises that the report will examine how the National Defence Department ensures that soldiers and their families are receiving timely and quality mental and physical health care on military bases in Canada.
In April, Ontario's ombudsman released a report that outlined the mental health crisis among children at the CFB Petawawa, near Ottawa.
Ombudsman André Marin reported that Petawawa children are "on the brink of committing suicide" because of the loss of parents, family members and others in the war in Afghanistan.
In addition to examining the military and borders, the preview says Fraser's reportwill also look at Statistics Canada's efforts to improve the quality of census data collected on certain "hard-to-count" groups, which could include the homeless or some aboriginal people.
Fraser will also look at how the federal government has fulfilled its obligations under the 1984 agreement with the Inuvialuit, the Inuit of the western Arctic.
2002 report probed sponsorship
Fraser's reports have caused considerable fallout across the political landscape in the past.
In 2002, Fraser released her infamous report into the federal sponsorship program, whichrecommended the RCMP investigate Liberal ties to advertising agencies.
The report, which hashaunted the Liberals on the campaign trail ever since,led to a lengthy inquiry, headed by Justice John Gomery, and a number of criminal convictions against advertising executives.
Gomery blamed former prime minister Jean Chrétien and several top bureaucrats for mismanaging the program and ordered the federal Liberals to repay $1.14 million to the public purse.
The position of auditor general was created in 1977 to act as a government watchdog. The auditor generalistasked withreviewing government spending and weighing in on how the government's policies are implemented.
Auditors general, who are non-partisan,serve 10-year terms and publish up to four reports a year. Fraser took on the roleon May 31,2001.
Her most recent report was released May 1, 2007.