City of Ottawa employee took work vehicle to convoy protest, then resigned
Kate Porter | CBC News | Posted: June 1, 2023 9:06 PM | Last Updated: June 1, 2023
Tips for fraud and waste at the City of Ottawa detailed by auditor general
A municipal employee used a City of Ottawa vehicle last year to take part in the convoy protest, and later voluntarily resigned.
That was one of several cases documented by the city's auditor general in her office's compilation of investigations into suspected fraud or waste in 2022. No other details about the employee were given except that it happened during work hours.
The City of Ottawa set up the hotline to receive anonymous tips nearly two decades ago, and each year it brings to light instances when city property has been misused or employees have broken rules.
Another resignation in 2022 came from an employee who had been working full-time for both the city and one of its suppliers, according to the auditor Nathalie Gougeon's report.
A third employee resigned, but downloaded 405 files to an external device before they left. The city didn't recover that device, and the report doesn't go into details about what those files contained.
Two people were fired from jobs that involved medical-related duties for falsifying their proof of vaccination — something that had also happened in 2021. Those cases were reported to the auditor general by managers.
The report also detailed a tip on how "two employees made a collective decision to provide preferential treatment to a resident requiring emergency care due to their political position."
Another employee was briefly supervising the time card of a family member until that reporting structure changed.
The 2022 report is rounded out with cases that include employees using city vehicles on personal time, or using their city email accounts for personal messages that were sometimes unprofessional.
The hotline often receives complaints that are very similar.
In 2022 it saw a total of 210 unique tips, which was 30 per cent fewer than 2021 when the auditor noticed a spike in complaints and suspected it was related to the number of people working from home.
Meanwhile, so many people have reported concerns about OC Transpo drivers that the auditor general's office dealt with that trend in a separate review last June. She found many drivers were not signalling when they left a bus stop to re-enter traffic.
The 2022 report on tips to the fraud-and-waste hotline goes before the city's audit committee on June 9.