Sloppy management, not corruption responsible for wasted tax dollars, says Quebec auditor general

Quebec's auditor general, in her second report this year, pointed to sloppy practices, not corruption, in the wasting of taxpayers' money.

Auditor GeneralGuylaineLeclercexamined leases signed by the Socit qubcoise de l'infrastructure (SIQ), which rents office space for provincial entities.

The SIQhas been under scrutiny ever sinceRadio-Canada investigative television programEnquterevealed that buildings owned by Liberal fundraiser MarcBibeauwere rented out by the government at higher than normal rates.

Leclerc found that Bibeauwas not alonein winning sweetheart leases. The SIQ oftenpaid more in rent than it should have and assumed higher than normal operating costs, her report concluded.

One of those buildings, at 800 Placed'Youvillein Quebec City, was 45 per cent empty by April 2018, costing theSIQ$2.1 million a year, the auditor general noted.

"In the course of ourwork, we found government practices that need to be revised and improved so that public sector entities develop and maintain their power to negotiate with their partners in the private sector, so they can concludeagreements that are more economical,"Leclercwrote in her report.

No collusion found at AMF

Leclerc and her team also looked into an allegationthat construction companies whoare required to seek a clean-bill-of-health from the Autorit des marches financiers in order to bid on public contractswere forced to hire a specific consulting firm.

The allegation wasmade by Annie Trudel, an independent investigator who also recently allegedthatTransport Quebec remains rife with corruption.

Leclercsaid her people spoke to Trudel about her claim but that she would not identify the firm, citing "professional secrecy."

In the end, the auditor general's team found that of about 100 consulting firms retained by the 4,588 construction companies seekingAMFapproval, only one consulting firm had a larger share of business26 companiesbut in this case the companies had common ownership.

WhileLeclercdid find shortcomings inAMFverifications of the construction firms, it was attributedto a lack of expertise amongofficers who did not have training or experience in financial matters.

She concluded that, contrary to Trudel's assertions, there was no evidence of a scheme in the AMF'sverification process.

Contaminated sites

The auditor general's report also investigated Quebec's inventory ofcontaminated sites. There are1,901 such sites in the province, 196 of them belonging to the CommissionscolairedeMontral.

But the government is doing little to clean them up, the report says.

In 2011, environmental liabilities from these sites were estimated at $3.2 billion. At the time, the government committed to cutting that in half within a decade.

That number, however, has barely budged since; environmental liabilities are currently estimated at $3.1 billion.