Annual Reports by Subject

FREDERICTON (GNB) – Auditor General Paul Martin tabled a report in the legislative assembly today, including an audit on pupil transportation.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development establishes policies and guidelines for pupil transportation and Martin concluded the department lacks oversight to ensure compliance with key requirements.

The audit reported several instances of non-compliance with legislation and policy.

“Of utmost concern to us, is that despite our office’s extensive audit of pupil transportation in 2001, several gaps in levels of compliance remain. We see little improvement in the area of departmental monitoring and oversight,” said Martin.

These gaps include drivers not meeting appropriate licensing and training requirements and the department failing to ensure compliance with vehicle maintenance schedules.

The key areas of concern related to insufficient evidence of required licensing for bus drivers, criminal record checks, driver training, and bus maintenance. The audit noted 63 buses with overdue motor vehicle inspections.

The audit also found that few strategies were in place to recruit and retain bus drivers.

The Auditor General made a total of twelve recommendations to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. The report is available online.

FREDERICTON (GNB) – Auditor General Paul Martin tabled a report in the legislative assembly today, including an audit on the Mental Health Trust Fund.

The audit reported that while the Department of Finance and Treasury Board has effectively fulfilled their obligations pertaining to the trust, the Department of Health has not.

“We found the Department of Health did not have the mechanisms in place to allow for timely use of the trust, as intended,” said Martin.

The Mental Health Trust Fund was established in 1977 from a bequest made to the Province of New Brunswick and designated for specific treatment of deserving New Brunswickers.

The Department of Health is to draw funds for treatment with the responsibility to determine which cases are most deserving based on an individual’s mental health condition and their financial resources. The Department of Finance and Treasury Board is responsible for the administration of the Trust. As of March 31, 2023, the trust’s value is approximately $1,635,256.

The audit found that the Department of Health officials had little knowledge of the trust and its history. Martin concluded that the Department of Health has not made sufficient effort to give effect to the terms of the Mental Health Trust Fund and fulfill the donor’s wishes.

The auditor general made one recommendation to the Department of Health. The report is available online.

FREDERICTON (GNB) – Auditor General Paul Martin tabled a report today in the legislative assembly, highlighting concerns related to travel nurse contracts within the Department of Social Development, Horizon Health Network and Vitalité Health Network.

Between Jan. 1, 2022, and Feb. 29, 2024, the government spent over $173 million on travel nurses.

“Our audit confirmed that the contracts with private nursing agencies were not reflective of best practices and did not demonstrate value for money,” said Martin.

The issues noted in the audit included a lack of data-driven decision-making, no vendor-selection processes, and no proper contract development, management or oversight.

Martin said Vitalité Health Network did not provide his office with requested information, contravening the Auditor General Act.

“It is critical that government organizations understand the authority of the auditor general’s office and comply with the Auditor General Act,” said Martin.

At the time of the audit, Vitalité had spent over $123 million on the use of contracted health-care workers, with over $93 million going to Canadian Health Labs.

Martin said the pricing structure varied greatly between service providers, however Canadian Health Labs charged significantly more than the others to provide registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and personal support workers.

“While Vitalité cited the requirement for the provision of French-language services as the reason for the large contracts with Canadian Health Labs, we found that the contract only required limited French-language services in some hospitals,” said Martin.

The auditor general noted that Social Development and Horizon focused on the short-term use of travel nurses. This resulted in total spending of almost $48 million for Horizon. While guidelines were in place for vendor selection, there were no selection criteria or scoring matrixes to support the awarding of contracts.

Martin credited Horizon for its processes to ensure services paid for had been received, but noted inadequate support for payment of travel expenses.

He said the largest contract signed by Social Development was written by the contractor and lacked adequate legal review, resulting in undue risk to the province.

“We have serious concerns pertaining to the lack of oversight for invoices paid by the Department of Social Development,” said Martin.

The auditor general made a total of 34 recommendations to the Department of Social Development, Horizon Health Network and Vitalité Health Network. The report is available online.

(Financial Audit) - This volume focuses on New Brunswick’s year-end financial results and matters arising from the annual financial audit of the provincial government and Crown agencies including understanding key financial audit issues and observations on the state of New Brunswick’s financial condition.

Annual Surplus, Net Debt and Funded Debt

State of New Brunswick’s Financial Condition