Western Arctic MP demands Auditor General probe of CanNor

Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq, the minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, defends the troubled agency at a CanNor press conference held in Iqaluit. (FILE PHOTO)

(Updated Nov. 3, 5:05 p.m.)

Accusing the minister responsible, Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq, of “inappropriate and heavy-handed interference,” Dennis Bevington, the New Democrat MP for Western Arctic, said Nov. 3 that he’s asked the Auditor General of Canada to investigate the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

“Northerners and all Canadians need to have the air cleared about this agency and its minister, Leona Aglukkaq,” Bevington said in a news release.

Aglukkaq, who on Nov. 2 had dumped on Bevington for his abstention in a House of Commons vote on abolishing the unpopular long-gun registry, accused the NDP member of distracting the attention of voters from more important issues.

“Dennis Bevington is playing politics, and trying to distract people from the fact that he broke his election promise and didn’t vote to kill the long-gun registry. Bevington knows that an external audit was just conducted on CanNor recently; this is purely about trying to change the channel,” Aglukkaq said in an emailed communication from her office.

The CanNor furor erupted early in October, when Radio-Canada reported the contents of a draft audit of the agency prepared by the Comptroller General of Canada.

The audit found CanNor staff failed to meet 12 of 13 basic financial management tests.

“The lack of effective controls may be attributable to the organization’s short existence, in addition to significant turnover in the finance management directorate,” the audit found.

In its first year, the agency went through five chief financial officers, the audit found.

The draft version of the audit also found that that Nicole Jauvin, who headed the CanNor agency until her retirement at the beginning of this past summer, has been hired on as a temporary advisor at a salary of $200,000 a year.

And the audit found the agency has yet to set up a “financial management framework,” which means a basic set of rules.

“We have an internal audit which says every accounting rule in the book was broken. Furthermore, I have heard allegations of inappropriate and heavy-handed interference from the minister,” Bevington said.

Bevington also said he has heard allegations that “even the most routine matters has been concentrated in the minister’s office, bypassing the normal non-partisan process of the civil service.”

In the final version of the CanNor audit, posted on the agency’s website later in October, the agency said it’s developing an “action plan” to fix the problems exposed by the Comptroller General’s office.

“Management has acknowledged the audit findings and has resolved to take action,” the CanNor website said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the creation of CanNor in 2009, during a summer visit to Iqaluit.

Aglukkaq was assigned the CanNor portfolio in May 2011, following the last federal election. The agency, headquartered in Iqaluit, hands out about $75 million a year to various northern organizations, governments, and quasi-government entities.