B.C.’s Minister of Municipal Affairs is treading lightly when asked about a newly-uncovered spending controversy from years past at the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, and indicates the Auditor General Office for Local Governments will still close down this year.
Josie Osborne was asked about the topic, in light of former CAO of the Thompson Nicola Regional District Sukh Gill expensing thousands of dollars in liquor for himself, staff and elected leaders over several years. That was uncovered by a lengthy investigation from Kamloops This Week.
Osborne was asked by NL News if local government members should be able to bill constituents for alcohol.
“What I will say is that it’s very important that local government leaders are responsive, responsible and accountable to their citizens and to the electorate. We expect best practices to be used in the way that funds that are expensed, and we understand that the board will be undergoing a series of conversations,” Osborne said.
The TNRD changed its policy last summer to only allow politicians to expense up to two drinks per board event, and staff can no longer expense booze. Before 2020, there were no limits on what TNRD members could spend on liquor.
When it comes to more than $517,000 of taxpayer money being spent on Gill’s work credit card between 2015 and 2020, mayor of Kamloops Ken Christian says that is “a question of mechanism of payment.” Christian is also a TNRD director and serves on its audit committee.
“I think what you’re referring to is a compendium of expenses, and it should not be confused that anyone had half a million dollars given to them. It was a question of mechanism of payment, and that payment was done through credit cards,” the mayor told NL News.
“Rather than issuing 25 lunch cheques to 25 directors, one person paid the bill and then charged it to the 25 directors. So over five years that adds up, and that’s really what the report reflects.”
Reporting by KTW showed dozens of instances where hundreds of dollars, and sometimes thousands, were spent at restaurants on Gill’s credit card in the past five years, many of which were high-end establishments that were visited outside of regular work hours.
The current board chair and current CAO of the regional district told NL News that Gill’s spending was excessive in many cases.
Meanwhile, despite the spending controversy at the TNRD, the Auditor General office in B.C. will still be closing this year. Osborne was asked why the province has decided to close the office and whether that decision should be reversed.
“This decision was made some time ago. As the services of the Auditor General for Local Government were very valued, and to look at the services that local governments delivered. Not focused on expenses or things like that, but more on the services that local governments are delivering. So that office is in the process of winding down its operations and will be closing,” she said to NL News.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation wants that office to stay open, and for the province to invest more into it.
“So that he or she, that auditor in charge, can have a serious look at contracts like this. And they can delegate to their team of auditors and whistleblowers and watch dogs. So that this doesn’t happen again in the future,” CTF B.C. director Kris Sims told NL News.
“Now we’ve heard from plenty of politicians and bureaucrats who say that it didn’t violate the policies. Well okay, well your policies stink then, and the policies need to be better. We expect that reasonable, common-sense people understand that it’s not appropriate to spend thousands and thousands of dollars at restaurants, including bills for alcohol.”
