Sheila Fraser
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Sheila Fraser (born September 16, 1950) is the current Auditor General of Canada.
Fraser was born in Dundee, Quebec, Canada. She earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University in 1972. She then became a chartered accountant in 1974 and FCA in 1994. In 1981, she worked for Ernst and Young where she worked on assignment to the Auditor General of Quebec in some cases, and other Quebec government offices.
In May 1999, she joined the Office of the Auditor General of Canada as Deputy Auditor General, Audit Operations.
She made headlines across Canada when her report on the sponsorship scandal rocked the country's political scene. She confirmed serious problems in the federal government's management of its Sponsorship Program for a four-year period beginning in 1997. In a few very troubling cases, sponsorship funds were transferred to Crown corporations using what the Auditor General called "highly questionable methods." That is, they appeared to have been designed to pay significant commissions to communications agencies, while hiding the source of funding and the true nature of the transactions. Parliament and the parliamentary appropriations process were not respected.
Due to this report, she became a relatively popular figure; she is debatably history's most popular government accountant. Canada's admiration for her was shown when she was named the 66th Greatest Canadian of all time in a CBC poll.
The Auditor General made the news again on November 26, 2006 with her report on the former ombudsman of federal inmates. The report made a series of allegations that the former ombudsman, Ron Stewart, had "often skipped work and collected $325,000 in improper or questionable salary, vacation pay and expenses during his 14-year tenure"[1] . The case is currently being reviewed by the RCMP to determine if criminal charges are warranted.
She is divorced and has three children.
Her grandfather's cousin, John Fraser, also served as Auditor General of Canada.
