QP Auditor General Change

THE SPEAKER « » : The honourable Leader of the Official Opposition.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: The process of out-of-budget spending followed by this province is out of step with the rest of the country. I thought we were trying to normalize our rules and processes. Maybe the Premier could comment on that but giving themselves the power to terminate the Auditor General for reasons other than cause or incapacity erodes her ability to do her job and threatens the independence and objectivity of her office. It is crucial that Nova Scotians understand whether they are getting value for money, and the Auditor General is the one who can tell them that, if she is not under threat of losing her job. I'll ask the Premier again: Will he stand up for good governance and stop this change?

HON. JOHN LOHR « » : On behalf of the Premier, I will say absolutely we will stand up for good governance, and we are following a process that the past three governments have followed since 2010 on our spending, and we're very transparent on our spending. We welcome the Auditor General's reports. We adhere to and we do our very best across departments to meet all the recommendations of the Auditor General's report, so absolutely.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Well, like I say to my children: "Show me, don't tell me." If you are saying you're transparent, be transparent. Change the rule. Table your spending. Show some actual transparency in a way that matters. We just came through an election. We know what the issues were in that election - they were primary care, they were housing, they were affordability - but we are not talking about that. We are talking about attacking the Auditor General, and I'd like to ask the Premier one more time: When did this become a priority, and will he pull it back?

JOHN LOHR « » : I'm happy to talk about the issues raised during the election, and we are addressing those in a historic budget. We are addressing the affordability for Nova Scotians by implementing the largest tax break in the history of our province. More than $1,000 for every family in Nova Scotia. We are doing the largest capital build in the history of our province. We are building schools. We are building hospitals. We are building roads. We are building housing. All the issues the member has raised, and we will continue to do that work.