Newfoundland and Labrador NDP Leader Jim Dinn (St. John’s Centre) is calling on the new PC government to take immediate action on long-standing Auditor General (AG) recommendations from 2018–2022, and to commit to implementing future recommendations without the years-long delays that have become the norm.
This call follows the Auditor General’s latest monitoring report on outstanding performance audit recommendations, which revealed that 26% – or one in four – of the recommendations issued between 2018 and 2022 remain not fully implemented, with almost half now over five years old. Dinn says this reflects a persistent pattern that must come to an end.
“I have to scratch my head at why the former Liberal government failed to act on key recommendations that would improve so many vital services in our province,” said Dinn. “It’s a pattern we’ve seen far too often: the AG uncovers serious issues, government pledges to follow through, and then years later we learn that many recommendations have been left to gather dust. This cycle needs to stop.”
“You just have to think back to the AG report on Personal Care Homes to see that this isn’t just a Liberal problem – this is a systemic issue by successive Liberal and Conservative governments,” said Dinn. “When the Auditor General outlines solutions that would strengthen our systems and improve life for those who rely on them and those who work within them, government should act. You don’t wait a decade and then suddenly decide it’s time to move. It’s clear that governments simply haven’t been doing the work they were elected to do.”
Dinn says the new PC government must be transparent about when the public can expect these outstanding recommendations to be fully implemented and must clearly outline its commitment to ending this pattern of neglect.
“We cannot continue allowing recommendations to be ignored,” said Dinn. “This new PC government must commit – now – that they will not let this happen again. Accountability is something they claim to value, so we expect them to provide a clear timeline for implementation and to assure the people of this province that key recommendations will no longer be left to fall through the cracks.”