OTTAWA – The Liberal government last week rejected a Reform party proposal that the federal auditor general be given power to look at the books of the Canadian Wheat Board.
Since the board already is audited privately, an annual government audit would be duplication and “a waste of time and money,” according to secretary of state for agriculture Fernand Robichaud.
That’s not the way Manitoba Reform MP Jake Hoeppner sees it.
Farmers are frustrated by the board’s secrecy, he told the House of Commons during debate on his motion.
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They have “the justified perception that the wheat board is an organization shrouded in secrecy. The wheat board is one of the most secretive government agencies in Canada.”
The Bloc QuŽbecois sided with Reform.
Age-old debate
The issue of who can audit the CWB has been debated for years as the federal auditor general has lobbied to be given the power to examine board books as a matter of course.
Robichaud said the government wants to “strike a fair balance” between financial responsibility and allowing the board to operate
effectively.
But he seemed to leave the door open to putting the board under the jurisdiction of the auditor general, like most other crown corporations, in the future.
“The government cannot, for the time being, support the subject matter of this bill,” he told the Commons.
For Hoeppner, it was simply another case of the Liberal government protecting its bureaucratic friends at the expense of prairie farmers.
He said administrative costs of the board increased 54 percent to $41 million in the seven years to 1994.
“Farmers pick up the tab for the operations of the Canadian Wheat Board,” he said. “They should be able to find whether or not their money is being spent wisely, but they cannot.”
The federal auditor general’s office has agreed with the proposal that it be allowed to audit the board’s books.
Last month, officials from the auditor general’s office told a Commons committee that a private auditor paid for by the board does not have the same scope as does the federal auditor under his own legislation.
