The previous Liberal government has come in for another scolding by the Auditor General, this time involving fraud risk and emergency preparedness.
“There’s something that needs to be done here and I think it needs to be done pretty quick.”
Denise Hanrahan fired a double-barrel of criticism at the former administration yesterday, covering the period from 2022 to 2025.
She zeroed in on failures to monitor, prevent and catch fraud. But more timely, and arguably more importantly, how ill-prepared the government and municipalities were for emergencies, such as the wildfires that ravaged the province last summer.
The AG said only nine per cent of towns had emergencies plans, and existing ones hadn’t been updated in years. As well, unincorporated areas weren’t required to have one, and weren’t included in the provincial plan, which itself had not been tested.
The AGs reports released April 23, 2026 (VOCM News)
What’s more, critical entities such as NL Health Services and MUN weren’t included in the related business continuity plan.
Meanwhile, Hanrahan found government “weak” on fraud, with a lack of oversight and updated policies. She also noted a spike in cases linked to the one-time $500 cost-of-living cheques in 2022.
But she was also clearly troubled that potential fraud in the public service was not being reported, not to mention the half dozen agencies which reported no fraud at all, even while having no policy to detect it.
In total, Hanrahan made 20 recommendations for the current government, all of which have been accepted and will be addressed when Ministers Craig Pardy and Pleaman Forsey meet with media later this morning.
