I’ve been a very big fan of provincial Auditor General John Doyle, ever since I first started looking into the various P3 projects in the province. Even then, he appeared to me to be one man with unbroken integrity, and not at all afraid to wade deeply where none had gone before to get at the heart of the often questionable Liberal method of accounting. He replied to every email of mine with thoughtful,informative answers,and I felt secure that Mr. Doyle would eventually uncover every detail needing to be uncovered.
He continues to impress by leaps and bounds and every British Columbian should be sending the man a Christmas card of thanks this year for looking out for all of us. Vaughn Palmers column in the Sun today tells us why…and the news is startling.
Not often do accountants engage in the bookkeeping equivalent of hand-to-hand combat.
But there was some of that at a meeting of the public accounts committee of the legislature one day last week, as BC Hydro’s chief financial officer and acting CEO Charles Reid squared off against Auditor-General John Doyle.
The occasion was supplied by the committee review of Doyle’s recent report on Hydro’s growing practice of defer-ring current expenses to future years.
The flashpoint was provided by Doyle’s bald assertion that although every penny of the soon-to-be-$5-billion balance in the 27-and-count-ing deferral accounts will have to be repaid, neither Hydro nor the government has any detectable plan to do so.
Westcoast Views with Laila Yuile 
Does John Doyle qualify as an “endangered species”, because I really think we DO need to protect him from THEM. (…insert the BC Liberal Party here…) I agree with you Laila, He does exhibit the rare trait of integrity in BC today. I am in awe of this man. I never thought in my lifetime, that I would become an ‘accounting’ groupie, but I’m hooked. God bless you and protect you John Doyle. ❤
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He has qualities that the BC Government (BC Liberal party) completely lack – and they would do well to learn that the whole province has zero tolerence for liars – especially official government spokespeople !
Thanks
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Does Premier Photo-Op value the role of Auditor General at the provincial level? Not on your life. The Municipal Auditor is merely a political diversion. Don’t allow the Liberals to pretend they aim to make a difference in governance. If they did, they would follow their own promises from 2001 to improve Freedom of Information. They would change the municipal campaign finance rules and eliminate the influence peddlers that corrupt local government. If they wanted cleaner government, they would fund the Auditor General properly and make it the most powerful office in government.
Northern Insights – Comparative Values
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I agree with everyone about John Doyle. However, his only tool is the ability to embarass the government. Other than that he has no power. The same thing will apply to a municipal auditor. So until these auditors are given some real power ( especially at the municipal level ) , they are basically a waste of our money, as governments will just continue to ignore them. A municipal auditor is just the usual Liberal strategy of pretending to care without actually doing anything.
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Dcayo vsun just ran a similar article like this. Nat post ran a MAE vs cost benefit ,multiple account estimate,re p3 costs or just projects in general.did not recommend MAE
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Careful what you wish for… look at what happens to skol boards when they displease their Victorian Masters – ‘Off With Their Heads!’
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Auditors only work when they can impanel citizen grand juries.
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