By Cheryl Jahn

Taxpayers Federation calls for municipal watchdog

May 29, 2025 | 4:01 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the BC Government to bring back the auditor general for local government. “The Auditor General for local governments. When that office existed, they did deep dives into municipal spending, provided best practice recommendations, and really monitored exactly how municipal governments are using taxpayer dollars. That is an important office for British Columbians to have,” explains Carson Binda, BC Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.”

And the office is not a new notion for municipalities.

“BC used to have exactly this office, an independent Auditor General for local governments. Unfortunately, the NDP defunded and then eventually eliminated that office entirely. We reached out to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and asked them why they chose to blow against accountability by removing that office. They told us that municipalities didn’t support our independent Auditor General. However, one local City Councillor did support the notion of an independent watchdog to keep an eye on the City’s spending.

“I think it’s long overdue because they’ll come in, they’ll look at a project, whether it’s procurement, construction and wastewater treatment, and do an independent audit and come back and say, yup, you’re doing a good job,” says Councillor Brian Skakun. “Any taxpayers’ dollars or there are some shortcomings, but I think it’s a great opportunity for local governments to be held accountable and for the taxpayers to know in-depth on how some of these projects happen.”

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The City has come under scrutiny for some major projects in years past. But Councillor Brian Skakun says it’s not as easy as one, two, three to get an independent audit.

“You’d probably have to have a council resolution, a majority of Council to vote on it. Then you’d have to have our Administration say this is the budget for it. Not that simple. So this one here is a completely independent audit that’s not influenced by anybody. And I think it’s long overdue and good for [BC Conservative Leader] John Rustad and those folks down there for pushing this again.”

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation presented a petition to the government with more than 10-thousand signatures. Binda says the response – particularly from the Premier’s office – was underwhelming.

“We were politely told they were not interested. That’s why it’s so awesome to see John Rustad with the B.C. Conservatives is not only listening to taxpayers’ ears and accepting this petition, but also rising in the Legislative Assembly today to table this petition to get the ball rolling and bring some accountability finally back to B.C. municipalities.”

The federation says a number of high-profile spending scandals have shaken taxpayers’ faith in local government accountability.