Auditor general urged MLAs to probe Saint John bailout approval

The legislature's public accounts committee could adopt a tougher approach to investigating government misspending, if Auditor General Kim MacPherson has her way.

In a little-noticed comment during her recent appearance before the committee, MacPherson urged MLAs to seize the initiative and aggressively pursue some of the questions raised in her recent audit.

"The committee has the obligation, and they're a key part of the accountability process, to take it from here," she said.

MacPherson said top civil servants who know key details of the former Liberal government's Saint John budget bailout should be hauled in, as a group, to testify about what happened behind the scenes.

"I think there's a lot that can be done to correct the wrongs here, starting with hearings with the deputy ministers," she said.

Committee chair Roger Melanson, a Liberal MLA, said he "listened carefully" to the auditor general's suggestions and agreed that the committee should "probably should look at evolving some of its functions."

He said first he'll discuss the idea with MLAs from other parties on the committee and then they'll probably have to take it back to their caucuses.

"There's still a process to follow to get to a point where a decision would be made," he said.

But PC MLA Glen Savoie said Melanson shouldn't wait.

"He's the chair. He can call this. He doesn't need to go back to his caucus," he said.

"Let's get the deputy ministers in as soon as possible, whether it's next week, to make sure taxpayers get the full appreciation of what happened in this situation."

MacPherson's suggestion, made to the committee on June 13, offers a mechanism to MLAs who have been grappling with how to further probe the Saint John deal.

Her audit said a three-year, $22.8-million Liberal government package to help the city through its financial crunch violated the Local Governance Act. That act sets out how a municipality deals with a budget deficit.

MacPherson also concluded that spending the money without it being appropriated by the legislature violated the Financial Administration Act, though she said officials at the Treasury Board disagreed.

MLAs mull investigation

In last week's CBC New Brunswick Political Panel podcast, MLAs from the Progressive Conservative, People's Alliance and Green parties said the Liberals should face consequences for the violations.

But they weren't clear on the right way to pursue that.

"If you broke the law, you charge them with breaking the law," Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said.

"I don't know if it's us that has to make the complaint or if the auditor general, through her report, is sufficient enough for the police to act. I don't know. I'm not a cop or anything."

Circumventing the two laws isn't a violation of the Criminal Code, and the sections MacPherson cited don't carry any fines or penalties under provincial legislation.

Other MLAs on the panel suggested the government deal with the issue itself or that the integrity commissioner get involved.

MacPherson calls for quick action

But MacPherson told MLAs June 13 that in the British parliamentary system, the committee itself has the power to push for solutions.

Deputy ministers from government departments periodically appear before the public accounts committee to answer questions about their departments' work in the previous year.

But there's no fixed schedule. It often takes a year or more before officials from an audited department end up in front of the MLAs.

MacPherson recommended the committee move quickly to summon deputy ministers from all the departments with a role in the Saint John bailout.

She said they should appear as a group, "not one at a time, and not a year from now … so that the committee can get all the answers as one time."

She said that's what often happens in other legislatures using the Westminster model. In some provinces, the auditor general attends the hearings where officials are grilled.

Savoie also questioned how urgently Melanson will push for the hearings, given he was the minister of the Treasury Board at the time the money was paid to Saint John without proper approval.