VANCOUVER, B.C.: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Premier David Eby to reinstate the office of the Auditor General for Local Governments in the wake of recent boondoggles by local governments. 

“Local governments across the province spend billions of taxpayer dollars, but they don’t have the same accountability watch dogs as other levels of government,” said Carson Binda, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Taxpayers need an auditor general with teeth to hold municipalities accountable for their sky-high spending.” 

Numerous projects are over budget or lack transparency, such as the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, the Surrey Police transition and spending by the City of Vancouver for the FIFA World Cup games.

All of these projects are examples of issues a municipal auditor general could investigate. 

The Auditor General for Local Governments was created in 2013 to provide municipalities with “objective information and relevant advice that will assist them in their accountability to their communities.” 

In 2020, the NDP government announced that it was eliminating the Auditor General for Local Governments. At the time, the government claimed that it was getting rid of the auditor because of pushback from the Union of B.C. Municipalities. 

“The fact that there was pushback from the municipalities shows that the office was working as intended,” Binda said. “Removing the auditor general because the municipalities didn’t like it is like removing the guard dog from the hen-house because the fox doesn’t want him there.” 

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