The People’s Alliance Party is looking to make good on a campaign promise to double the budget for the Auditor General.
Leader Kris Austin wants to ensure the office has enough staff, and resources to properly investigate and monitor government.
“We did, in our campaign, say that we would allocate $2 million additional to her budget, of course that was in conjunction with closing the Language Commissioner’s Office, which was $500,000, so we were gonna cancel some other things to get that money into the Auditor General’s budget,” says Austin.
He is clarifying comments made recently that investing one dollar in the Auditor General’s office would see ten come back to the taxpayer.
Austin admits there was no hard evidence backing up that statement.
“You know it’s more of a general statement, nothing definitive to say that exactly one dollar invested will give you exactly ten back, it was more to press the point that there is indeed efficiencies to be had by funding her office,” explains Austin.
He says following Auditor General recommendations can, and often does lead to efficiencies, or savings over the long term, as long as the political will is there to take action on those recommendations.
Austin says per capita, the New Brunswick Auditor General’s office is the lowest resourced such office in the entire country, and they want to ensure she has the right, qualified, competent personnel.
“Those are big files, and it takes a lot of work to get those done, and obviously you don’t hire any average Joe off the street, you know they have to be chartered accountants, and some very skilled people,” says Austin.