Legislative Report

Provincial Auditor Has Well-Founded Concerns with NDP Government

It appears the Provincial Auditor has some well-founded concerns that the NDP government is not able to ensure that millions of dollars handed out to community based organizations are indeed being spent on the programs they should be. We have all seen what can go wrong when the NDP government does not have proper checks and balances in place when it gives money to a third-party organization. Witness the mess that happened with the Department of Community Resources (DCR) and the troubled Oyate Safe House.

Following this report, the Saskatchewan Party asked the provincial auditor to conduct an investigation into all existing service agreements between child and family service organizations that provide services to children at risk to ensure that taxpayers’ dollars were being spent appropriately. NDP government members on the Public Accounts Committee expressed reservation about such an investigation and DCR Minister Buckley Belanger called it a “witch-hunt.”

Well, now the provincial auditor is expressing these concerns again, but on a broader basis. Last year alone, the NDP government gave $86 million to community based organizations for service delivery. In a news release about his report from last week, Wendel said, “The Department does not require these organizations to set performance measures or targets, so the Department cannot know if the organizations are achieving what the Department Intends. Nor do all the organizations provide the Department with required financial reports. The Department needs to receive financial and operational reports … to know that the money it provides them is used for intended purposes…”

It is disturbing that the NDP government has no means of knowing if taxpayers’ money is going to the children and families who need it. The government must learn from the mistakes it made with the Oyate Safe House – young girls trying to escape the sex trade were put at further risk because the NDP government failed to ensure money was being spent for the purposes it was intended. This is not good enough for the people of the province.

Past Legislative Reports