Accounting report says progress made, but problems persist
Posted March 13, 2013 5:55 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – Progress has been made, but problems persist.
That’s the conclusion from the province’s Auditor General John Doyle, eight months after his look at the legislature’s financial accounting.
The previous report showed that MLA’s weren’t keeping track of receipts, but that is getting better.
OMNI TV’s Political Analyst Kim Emerson says the new report raises more questions about renovations to an MLA’s constituency office believed to be BC Liberal Eric Foster.
“Eric Foster has started to pay back some of the money, but he’s paying that money back with constituency association funds. So he’s got public money paying back public money that shouldn’t have been used in that way in the first place.”
In his report, the auditor general also calls compensation arrangements with some senior management “unusual”.
Emerson says $660,000 was also added to the pension funds of the legislature clerks. “That was done in secret and there was also no taxes paid or designated to Revenue Canada which may be a violation of Revenue Canada’s rules.”
The speaker of the house has responded by saying changes will be made to make government more accountable, however it’s not clear what those will be.
