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Macdonald claims Liberals trying to silence a critic
Columbia River – Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald says the ruling Liberal Party is silencing a strong critic by handing Auditor General John Doyle his walking papers.
“Auditor General John Doyle has been relentless in his scrutiny of government, fulfilling the role that he was hired to do,” said Macdonald. “In the course of his work he shone a light on many examples of BC Liberal mismanagement, and for that, he is losing his job.”
The Auditor General is responsible for conducting independent audits and advising on how well government is managing its responsibilities and resources, a role that focuses entirely on the public interest, without interference from politicians.
During his term, Doyle exposed misuse of deferral accounts at BC Hydro, lack of monitoring by the BC Environmental Assessment Office of mitigation requirements on holders of environmental certificates, and the failure of government to properly manage BC forest lands.
Doyle is also currently investigating the legal fees paid to two convicted BC Liberal insiders in the BC Rail scandal.
“The Clark government has done almost everything it can to stymie the Auditor General in his efforts to get to the truth about BC Rail, and now they’ve taken the final step. They’ve fired him. The Opposition has complete confidence in the work that John Doyle has done and we believe that he should continue in his role as Auditor General (AG),” Macdonald stated.
Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett sees things differently.
“The AG is hired for five year terms by a Legislative Committee that is accountable to the Legislature, not the government and not the NDP Caucus. At least one of the five MLAs on this committee, and I do not know who, obviously voted against re-hiring the current AG because the legislation requires unanimity on the committee. Same thing that happened with the last B.C. Auditor General and same thing that often happens with AGs. Not unusual in the real world, only in the make-believe world of the NDP,” he said, adding he believes a suitable replacement will be hired.
“Whoever replaces the current AG will, without a doubt, be qualified and will be just as eager to complete thorough reports as the current AG is. I can’t ever recall any AG from any province or federally in my lifetime who was a slacker and failed to his or her job. The NDP are obviously hard-up for issues and Norm Macdonald is doing what he has done for almost eight years – play politics, rather than spending his time looking after his constituents,” Bennett concluded.
Ian Cobb/e-KNOW
