The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the government of Prince Edward Island to launch a full review of the city of Charlottetown’s spending practices. New documents obtained by the CBC show that provincial officials were concerned about the city’s financial management as early as 2019.

“Municipal employees in Charlottetown are living it up and forcing taxpayers to foot the bill,” said CTF Interim Atlantic Director Jay Goldberg. “Whether it is billing taxpayers for six meals a day or staying in five-star hotels, city employees clearly have no respect for taxpayer dollars. Charlottetown taxpayers deserve better.”

Earlier this spring, the CTF released documents obtained through freedom of information requests that showed Charlottetown officials expensed up to six meals per day when attending the 2019 Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Quebec City. The CTF also obtained documents showing that a municipal employee billed taxpayers thousands of dollars after staying at five-star hotels in violation of the city’s expense policies.

Now documents obtained by the CBC show auditors felt there was “generally poor financial management” and that the city fell “well short of fully accepting of the recommendations of the auditors.”

“If provincial auditors have been concerned with Charlottetown’s financial management for years without any clear changes, the provincial government owes it to taxpayers to launch a full provincial review of the city’s spending practices,” said Goldberg.