Michael Ferguson (Auditor General)

Michael Ferguson was appointed Auditor General of Canada, effective November 28, 2011.^[1] Previous to this post, he served as the deputy minister of finance and secretary to the board of management for the province of New Brunswick.

Career

Ferguson obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of New Brunswick. In 1985, he started work as an auditor in New Brunswick's comptroller's office. He became the provincial comptroller from 2000 to 2005. From 2005 to 2010, he was the province's Auditor General. Prior to becoming Auditor General of Canada he served as Deputy Minister of Finance for the province of New Brunswick.

From 2005 until 2010, Ferguson held various executive positions with the New Brunswick Institute of Chartered Accountants (NBICA).^[2]

Auditor General of Canada

2012 Spring Report of the Auditor General of Canada

Ferguson's first report as Auditor General was his 2012 Spring Report, released April 3, 2012.^[3] The report covered six audits of various Government of Canada operations and procurements, each contained within a separate chapter of the report:

• Chapter 1 – Border Controls on Commercial Imports^[4]
• Chapter 2 – Replacing Canada’s Fighter Jets^[5]
• Chapter 3 – Interest-bearing Debt^[6]
• Chapter 4 – Non-filers and non-registrants – Canada Revenue Agency^[7]
• Chapter 5 – Oversight of Civil Aviation – Transport Canada^[8]
• Chapter 6 – Special Examinations of Crown Corporations – 2011^[9]

The report also included an appendix report of the President of the Treasury Boards’ Annual Report to Parliament on the Tabling of Crown Corporations’ Reports 2011.^[10]

F-35 Controversy

Chapter 2 of the 2012 Spring Report ignited controversy for the Conservative government by revealing the process to procure 65 F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters for the RCAF was troubled by several irregularities. On April 5, 2012, Ferguson revealed the government likely knew prior to the May 2011 General Election that the $16 billion final price tag to purchase and maintain the jets was $10 billion under budget. The report and subsequent revelation prompted the opposition NDP to call for Defence Minister Peter Mackay's resignation.^[11]

References