Inside Politics

LeakWatch Extra: Just where are all these draft auditor general reports coming from, anyway?

by Kady O'Malley Posted: April 11, 2011 6:12 PM Last Updated: April 11, 2011 6:55 PM
As those of you who follow me on twitter are already aware, my fingers very nearly popped out of their sockets earlier this afternoon when I heard -- with my very own ears -- John Baird casually reveal to a gaggle of G8-report-comment-seeking reporters that he, too, had a draft version of the report that was provided to Canadian Press -- a more recent iteration, even, although not, he assured them, the final report. 

Courtesy of the AG's website, here's the section of the official guide for auditees that deals with the handling and treatment of information throughout the auditing process:

Reporting phase.
During the reporting phase of the audit, the OAG initially sends copies of the principal (PX) draft chapters to audited entities for confirmation and validation of facts. These draft chapters are numbered and printed on the Office's "protected" red-bordered paper and are normally distributed through the entity's OAG contact/liaison person.

Audited entities are required to consider the entity plan summary, draft audit chapters, and other audit documents as "controlled" documents and to respect the confidentiality of their contents.

After tabling of the report.
Audited entities are required to track the internal distribution of all controlled documents and return them to the OAG no later than one week after tabling of the report. Audited entities are no longer permitted to destroy or shred such documents. In addition, they are expected to immediately inform the OAG if any numbered/controlled audit document is lost or made public.
As previously noted, the report has not yet been tabled, which means that those "controlled documents" -- which would include both drafts -- the one provided to CP, as well as the later version referred to by Baird, which, just a few hours later, found its way to CTV bureau chief Bob Fife, who cited, as his source, the Conservative Party. 

Go back and read that paragraph again. Don't worry, the rest will keep. 

Okay, so -- are we clear on what appears to have happened here? 

Leaving aside the contents of the report itself -- which, again, has not and cannot be released until a new parliament has been elected, sworn in and summoned to meet: 

A numbered, controlled document -- either the entire chapter, or a portion thereof -- that, according to proper audit process, would have been given to the department's audit liaison earlier this year with strict rules on how such material is supposed to be distributed and tracked -- found its way into the hands of the political wing of the governing party, which promptly leaked it to a second media outlet in an effort to douse the political firestorm that ensued from the original story, apparently without the slightest concern that such a breach of the rules could put into question the integrity of the entire audit process to date. 

Leaving aside the contents of the report -- which, according to Colleague Weston, one source familiar with the final version described as "brutal" -- the apparent disregard for the rules and conventions that ensure a separation between party and government business ... well, even the rest of the tale eaves one boggling. 

 
As yet, no word from the AG on whether her office was been "immediately informed" that one of those numbered copies of the draft has been made public, although it's not clear whether there's anything she could do -- or announce that she was prepared to do -- even if she'd gotten a heads up before it hit the afternoon news cycle. Given Fraser's reaction on discovering that members of the same party attempted to pull a fast one on parliament by misquoting her in a dissenting minority committee report on the very same subject -- G8/20 summit expenses, that is -- one can only marvel at her remarkable ability to maintain an impartial silence throughout the events of today.

Tags: auditor general, blackberry jungle, day 17, g8/20: the aftermath, here we go again, leakwatch