A bill introduced in the Ontario legislature last month by local MPPs to eliminate any future challenges to the role or powers of Ontario’s Auditor General has died on the order sheets due to the impending June 2 provincial election.
On April 13, the same day Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk released her critical preliminary report on Laurentian University, local NDP MPPs France Gélinas (Nickel Belt) and Jamie West (Sudbury) introduced the bill in the legislature.
The local MPPs brought forward the bill after Laurentian University, which was undergoing a value-for-money audit, challenged the authority of Ontario’s auditor general in the courts this past winter.
Asked April 13 if there was time to get the bill passed before the legislature dissolves, Gélinas said “a lot of bills are being put through quite quickly right now, so fingers crossed.”
But that turned out not to be the case.
West explained to Sudbury.com last week that after the bill was introduced, MPPs went back to their ridings to do constituency work, and were supposed to return to the legislature until Wednesday of this week.
But other than the Tories’ budget being presented last Thursday, there have been no further sittings in the legislature.
The provincial election period officially begins today (May 4) after Ontario Premier Doug Ford met with Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell yesterday to officially dissolve the provincial parliament.
Once the writ drops, all bills that haven’t been passed die on the order sheets, West explained.
West said if he and Gélinas are lucky enough to be re-elected, they’ll re-table the bill on the auditor general’s powers in the next legislature.
Last year, Laurentian refused to provide privileged (confidential) information to Lysyk’s audit team.
Due to this dispute, Lysyk asked the courts for an interpretation of what is allowed for under the Auditor General Act. In January, a judge ruled that the act does not give AG the right to see privileged documents.
However, Laurentian did end up later having to hand over most of the requested documents.
This was after the Ontario legislature issued rare Speaker’s warrants demanding they produce the documents. Laurentian went to court to fight the enforcement of the Speaker’s warrants, but their request for a full stay was denied.
West said what happened between Laurentian and the auditor general’s office was “unnecessary.
“All the information that she's looking for, I received a text this morning from the chair of the board, but it's all been presented,” West said on April 29. “They dragged their feet for such a long time. It was painful for the whole community.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is the associate content editor at Sudbury.com. She also covers education and the arts scene.
