VANCOUVER, B.C.: Taxpayers are calling on Premier David Eby to reappoint the Auditor General for Local Governments following a series of spending scandals from local governments in B.C.

“Municipalities and regional districts have been taking taxpayers for a ride,” said Carson Binda, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Taxpayers can’t afford for municipalities and regional districts to hike taxes to pay for frivolous spending.” 

A series of recent spending scandals have eroded taxpayers’ trust in local governments, especially the big-spending Metro Vancouver Regional District. 

Last week, Metro Vancouver held a special meeting to look for cost saving measures, but didn’t find any. Meanwhile, the meeting cost taxpayers more than $20,000 to pay stipends for the politicians who attended. 

Other recent spending scandals from Metro Vancouver and municipalities include:

1. City of Richmond spending $73,000 on gift cards to high end restaurants
2. Metro Vancouver spending hundreds of thousands of dollars sponsoring the PNE
3. Invest Vancouver sending staff to Portugal to meet “Stella the robotic dog” while practicing “killer yoga moves”
4. Metro Vancouver spending more than $64,000 on fancy food and liquor to host a party in Toronto
5. Four mayors from the metro region jet set to Holland on the taxpayer dime
6. Outrageous compensation for local government bureaucrats and politicians, like Metro Vancouver CAO Jerry Dobrovolny who took home $712,000 or Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley took nearly $400,000 in total compensation from taxpayers 
7. The North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant which is more than $3 billion over budget and years behind schedule

B.C. used to have a dedicated municipal watchdog, the Auditor General for Local Governments, however the NDP eliminated the office in 2020. At the time, the provincial government claimed that municipalities didn’t want the extra oversight of a dedicated auditor general.
 

“Of course the municipal politicians didn’t want an extra accountability of a dedicated auditor general,” Binda said. “That’s like retiring the farm dog because the fox doesn’t like it guarding the chicken coop.” 

The provincial government has recognized that there’s a serious problem with financial mismanagement at Metro Vancouver.

“It’s disappointing to be disappointed yet again by Metro Vancouver,” Eby has said. 

“Metro Vancouver’s governance is broken,” said Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim. 

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