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audit

Forest Fire - MNR crew working with Parks Canada 2015

Auditor General asked to expand review of MNR wildland fire fighting polices/procedures

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An existing review of Ministry of Natural Resources wildland firefighting efforts is being dragged into the debate over this year’s response.

Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser is asking Ontario’s Auditor General to explore whether the recommendations from a 2022 report were implemented.

The report found a lack of clarity regarding roles and responsibilities for emergency response among the MNR, the Provincial Emergency Management Office, local governments, and communities.

The same report also noted that between 2018 and 2020, the MNR was taking four hours or more to respond to 15% of wildland fires that broke out during that period.

The Auditor General made 30 recommendations.

In a letter to Fraser, Shelly Spence states that she will take the request into consideration.

“I just sat across from chiefs whose communities were evacuated, and in some cases destroyed, and the warnings and support weren’t there when they were needed,” stated Fraser in a release.

“We want the Auditor General to look at whether Ontario was ready and whether constant underbudgeting impacted Ontario’s response.”

The AG’s latest report is not expected to be made public until next year.

Halifax City Hall

Halifax mayor’s expenses to be reviewed by police after audit

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The city’s auditor general has asked Halifax police to look into the expenses of the mayor.

Andrew Atherton said he sent the report to authorities after four transactions from Andy Fillmore’s office did not comply with the city’s spending policy.

“It’s a professional judgement of mine where things move potentially past non-compliance into an area where I am not qualified to say if something is illegal or not illegal,” said Atherton.

In a media release, the city said two invoices for legal services were submitted and paid.

Two procurements did not follow “competitive processes” which is required by policy.

One was for HR services for office reorganization and recruitment that was valued at $90,000. The other was for speech writing services valued at $14,000.

The city said, although all four didn’t comply with the procurement policy, they were services used.

Capital budget

Gaps were found in the capital budget process for 2025/26 including oversight, priorities and cost estimation.

According to HRM, the governance structure for capital budgeting did not “function as designed”.

“There was a lack of evidence showing how key senior leaders in the organization were meaningfully involved in considering overall organizational needs prior to projects being recommended to Regional Council,” said the news release.

And there wasn’t enough clarity around roles and responsibilities.

There were nine recommendations which the city has agreed to.

In a statement, Mayor Andy Fillmore said the report made one thing clear: “as Halifax grows, we need a stronger and more disciplined approach to capital planning.”