Deputy tourism minister David MacKenzie and Tourism Minister Rob Henderson appeared before the public accounts committee Friday morning. (CBC)

P.E.I. Tourism Minister Rob Henderson was disappointed to hear his department had handed out millions of dollars worth of contracts without following proper procedures, he told a legislature committee Friday.

Henderson and his deputy minister, David MacKenzie, were making a long-awaited appearance before the legislature's public accounts committee. The committee had questions about $8.4 million worth of professional contracts handed out over two years.

The auditor general examined 31 of those contracts and found there was a lack of controls and oversight which could have exposed government to unnecessary risk. Many of the contracts didn't have treasury board approval or the required signing authority. In some cases there were no written contracts at all, or a required competitive bidding process was skipped over.

The Opposition has been hammering government for months over the Auditor General findings....and demanding to hear from Henderson, MacKenzie, and the former deputy, Melissa MacEachern.

MacEachern was deputy for the period covered by the auditor general's investigation. The committee's Liberal majority voted down motions to call her as a witness.

Both Henderson and MacKenzie admitted to the public accounts committee mistakes had been made. They said it was clearly unacceptable that treasury board policies and guidelines were not followed.

Henderson said he was "surprised and disappointed" at the Auditor General's findings. The minister also said a culture of haste and unawareness of policies had developed within Tourism PEI.

He told the committee that since the report his department has adopted all 10 of the auditor general's recommendations and senior staff have been educated on contract tendering policies.

The Opposition called it a "flagrant disregard of policies," and they still want to hear from former deputy Melissa MacEachern.

But Liberal MLAs Buck Watts and Sonny Gallant said the minister admitted there were mistakes, and corrective action has been taken. Since the Auditor General found no intent of wrongdoing or misappropriation of funds, it was time for the public accounts committee to move on to other issues.