A claim from the federal Liberals’ revenue minister that a critical audit into federal COVID-19 spending was flawed and politically motivated saw the Conservatives blast the government Tuesday for challenging the independence of an officer of Parliament.
The surprise political drama saw auditor general Karen Hogan forced to defend her office’s probe — which is required by legislation — into the multibillion-dollar pandemic benefits programs that were rolled out within weeks after COVID-19 shut down nearly every aspect of public life in Canada.
The Liberals pushed backed, saying they were confident in their plans to review and collect some of the misspent money, and that it might not be cost-efficient to pursue all of it. “The auditor general is an incredibly critical part of our democracy, so when an individual calls the auditor general’s integrity into question, which happened just now in this House, it is an attack on our democracy,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence.Lawrence and other Tories called on Lebouthillier to apologize. She did not, although she did say she had full confidence in the auditor general.
Accusing the Liberals of undermining the independence of an officer of Parliament was a political turning of the tables for the Tories, whose leader, Pierre Poilievre, has been criticized for appearing to challenge the independence of institutions like the Bank of Canada. The government’s suite of COVID-19 benefit programs was rolled out with unprecedented speed just weeks after the pandemic struck Canada and the country all but shut down in order to slow the spread of the virus.
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