That One Missing Trillium Line Audit From AG
The city auditor general Nathalie Gougeon has produced a summary of all her 2024 audits.
The Bulldog has been calling for an audit of the unusual contract awarding of the Trillium and airport line for LRT to be audited. The winner failed the technical standards twice.
The two light-rail lines were two years late in completion. Also contractors associated with the project have filed about $100 million in lawsuits against the company in charge of building the line, TransitNext, an affiliate of the former SNC Lavalin.
This audit was on the workplan for the AG but it slowly lost its priority and eventually was deleted.
The summary of the work of the AG’s office is below and it begins on page 8 of the document.
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I will set aside my comments on the targets of the work performed and the findings for another time.
What I found interesting is that the first 5ish pages were about the Auditor General and her office. It wasn’t until the 6th page that the content actually started, and what was presented was, for the most part, devoid of insights.
This report is illustrative of many city reports: A lot of words up front, little meaningful disclosure in the middle, lots of words at the end.
A Board of Directors comprised of qualified individuals would have a few short sentences to the author of this report, and those words wouldn’t be pleasant. In short, forcing your audience to waste their time flipping pages to find the meaningful parts of the report demonstrates a lack of respect for their time.
That the AG used about 30% of the total report to describe a generic ‘who we are and what we stand for’ speaks to a whole different problem.
Thank you, Ron. You have exposed another issue at city hall. We often criticize councilors for not taking the time to read 500-page documents that often contain more filler than content. If someone dumped an annual budget on my desk that was 4 inches thick I doubt I’d have much interest in reading it, especially when I’d be expected to do more of the same next day and the day after. There is a phrase a very smart lady I used to work with used frequently, “less is more”. Unfortunately, the report writers at city hall feel quantity provides more value than quality. When I began commenting on The Bulldog a number of years ago Ken Gray told me to keep my comments short and sweet. At least I followed half his advice.