The government wants to give themselves the power to fire the auditor general.
A new bill proposed by the PCs would let them fire Auditor General Kim Adair for reasons other than performance issues, known as “cause and incapacity” under the subsection 3(5) of the Auditor General Act.
That means the house would be able to vote her out, so long as they vote two-thirds in favour.
After the fall election, Premier Tim Houston and the PCs now hold 43 of the 55 seats in the legislature.
Adair says this would erode the independence of her office, preventing her from doing her job properly, according to an emailed statement.
In her most recent audit report, she said the government lacks transparency with over budget spending and suggested they table any of it in the legislature.
During question period, Claudia Chender, head of the NDP party and leader of the official opposition, grilled Houston about why he would do this.
“If the auditor general’s job is not in danger, will the premier explain why he thought it was necessary to change the rules for dismissing her?”
In response, the Premier said the AG is important and that he looks forward to continuing to work with her, but that the government is trying to align their laws with other provinces.
Changing how Adair could be fired is part of a larger bill that could potentially censor future audit reports.
It includes proposed rules that would give the attorney general, also known as the Minister of Justice Becky Druhan, the power to designate some information as confidential, preventing it from being published in the auditor general’s reports.
Adair says she is meeting with the government Wednesday evening to discuss the proposed changes and will have more information to give Thursday morning.
The PCs have made a series of moves to change how the government communicates with the public and with reporters, including dissolving the communications arm of the government, and preventing reporters from talking to ministers and the Premier inside of the legislature. Instead, the government has been setting up moderated media conferences at One Government Place, where a moderator can stop reporters from asking questions at any moment.
Both the NDP and Liberals have criticized the government for a lack of transparency, echoing Adair’s statement about the province’s over-budget spending.
