- Committee Meeting
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, April 9 at 8 a.m. with Environment and Protected Areas about the ministry’s 2022–2023 annual report and the outstanding recommendations from our office. Assistant Auditor General Eric Leonty will attend the meeting as support to the committee members.
During our 2022-2023 audit of the Province’s Consolidated Financial Statements, we identified Environmental Liabilities as a key audit matter. At March 31, 2023, the statements included $117 million for environmental liabilities. This represents future funding required to comply with environmental legislation.
Since 2015, we have made 15 recommendations aimed at improving various aspects of department operations including flood mitigation, wetland replacement, financial security for land disturbances from mining, and pesticide management. Most recently, we recommended that the department improve its financial information preparation and reporting processes and collect underpayments to the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Fund when errors are found.
Of note: Three recommendations concerning sand and gravel (outstanding for four years) and one recommendation regarding grazing leases (outstanding for eight years) have recently been transferred to the Forestry and Parks ministry as part of a government reorganization. There is a potential risk that this transfer could jeopardize implementation or lead to unnecessary delays.
You can find a list of the recommendations on page 83 of our December 2023 report.
Watch the meeting at Assembly Online. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts reviews the reports of the Auditor General of Alberta and the public accounts of the province. Appointed under the Auditor General Act, the Auditor General is an Officer of the Legislative Assembly and is the auditor of the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Province of Alberta and most provincial agencies, boards, commissions, and regulated funds.