Farmers will have to wait a few more months to find out whether the Canadian Wheat Board is being run properly.
The federal auditor general was to have filed a report on the grain marketing agency’s operations to the federal government this month.
But the job has proved to be bigger than anticipated, and the process is about four months behind schedule.
The auditor general’s office now says it will finish its investigative work next month and file a report in January 2002.
A CWB official said nothing should be read into the delay in terms of how the review is going.
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Nor is any particular area of board operations creating problems for the auditor general.
“It’s just a matter of them want-ing to do a very thorough job and taking a little bit longer than they had expected,” said spokesperson Rhéal Cenerini.
The auditor general’s office has stated the delay is not attributable to the board, which it said has co-operated fully throughout the review.
As many as 17 investigators have been working on the board review at various times.
The CWB’s board of directors asked the auditor general to undertake the one-time review in response to criticism from some farmers who said the agency was too secretive. Some critics wondered whether the board was trying to hide inefficient or improper activities.
The auditor general’s office has said its review is designed to provide certain assurances:
- That assets of the board were properly safeguarded and controlled during the review period.
- That financial, human and physical resources of the board were managed economically and efficiently.
- That operations of the corporation were carried out effectively.
The review will focus particularly on management of the board’s pool accounts and assess the board’s performance in areas such as grain marketing, country services, grain transportation, communications and price pooling. The review is not looking at the issue of the board’s statutory marketing authority nor will it comment on the merits or drawbacks of single desk selling.
Under the new schedule, a draft report will be reviewed with CWB management in November, then reviewed with the board’s audit and finance committee in December. The final report will presented to the minister responsible for the CWB and the board of directors in January.
The report will eventually be made public, although how or when that will be done hasn’t been determined.
“The farming community has been calling for this, so we hope they will take advantage of this opportunity to really get an in-depth look at how the place operates,” said Cenerini.
