Summary
The oil sands are an important resource to Albertans and of interest to all Canadians and the international community. Rapid oil sands development in recent years has led to widespread concerns about their environmental impacts and the need to better understand these impacts.
Objective and Scope
Our audit objective was to determine whether the first public report on the plan was complete and verifiable, based on evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to support the reported results.
Conclusion
The governments of Alberta and Canada jointly released their first annual report long after the information it contained was current. The report for 2012–2013 was released in June 2014, 15 months after the March 31, 2013 end of the first year. The 2013–2014 report on the second year of implementation has not yet been released. The report lacked clarity and key information and contained inaccuracies. The report was not clear on:
- whether overall implementation of the plan was on track
- which of the projects committed to for 2012–2013 were completed, partly completed or not completed
- what remained to be done to implement the governments’ key commitments