The P.E.I. legislature is considering giving the province's auditor general the authority to peek into the books of private enterprise when such groups are on the receiving end of taxpayers' dollars –– and it's about time.
This week, the Official Opposition in the provincial legislature tabled a bill that, if passed, would allow the AG to do just that.
The measure received unanimous support from P.E.I.’s MLAs on Tuesday night.
Introduced by Green MLA Michele Beaton, the proposed legislation provided an amendment to the province’s existing Audit Act and would allow the Island’s auditor general to inspect private companies and non-profit groups that have received funding from Island taxpayers via the government. The funding could be in the form of loans, grants, subsidies or tax credits.
The auditor general, a position currently held by Darren Noonan, who was appointed just last week, always could audit Crown corporations and government departments but be shut out when it came time to follow the money after it left the public purse.
In order to get that information, the AG would have to rely on the goodwill and permission of the recipient to gain such access after it had been handed over to the private sector.
The changes to the act would force the private sector to comply or face consequences.
Taxpayers deserve this change. A case in point is the fiasco of the e-gaming initiative — a subject that was raised during debate over this bill.
During that investigation, then auditor general Jane MacAdam faced roadblocks when trying to probe the debacle that is still before the courts and resulted in the squandering of millions of taxpayers' dollars.
This new bill also comes amid an Opposition-led review of COVID-19 relief program spending by the provincial government, which has seen some money dispursed to non-profit organizations, like the United Way, and in some cases private companies.
Another concern prompting Beaton's bill is controversy over a $4.7-million fund allocated to the P.E.I. Potato Board for cold storage of a remaining 2019 crop of potatoes. The MLA argues these funds were either partially allocated to Cavendish Farms or offset costs the Irving-owned company may have otherwise incurred to store potatoes before processing them. Either way, it's millions of dollars without strings for the processing giant on the backs of taxpayers.
All of these examples, and myriad others in our province's checkered history of sending funding to the private sector, prove that being a private enterprise shouldn't give you a pass on financial accountability when it comes to public money.
Taxpayers always deserve to know what their money has bought them.
