FORSETH – British Columbia government gets an ‘F’ in mathematics
(Image: Pixabay.com)
LESS THAN A MONTH AGO, in an email dated Oct. 26, 2021, the BC Auditor General stated:
“For the 10th year in a row, we have qualified our audit opinion on the government’s summary financial statements. This means we disagree with the government’s presentation of its financial accounts – to the tune of $6 billion.
“Our auditors also found errors that impacted the deficit by $550 million and that required fixing in the government’s summary financial statements. Simply put, this means that without our audit, the deficit would have been out by $550 million.”
(See the Auditor General’s video statement at https://youtu.be/3xNp6ufnI7I).
There can be little doubt that the NDP government of Premier John Horgan appears — as indicated by the Auditor General — to have no issues with manipulating the true state of the provinces financial picture.
With that in mind, pardon me if I put little stock in the latest from Finance Minister Selina Robinson (Nov 22nd, 2021: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021FIN0075-002223)
“Based on data until the end of September, B.C.’s deficit is projected at $1.7 billion – a substantial reduction from the $9.7-billion deficit originally estimated at Budget 2021, and the $4.8-billion deficit predicted in the First Quarterly Report.”
From what our Auditor General had to say last month, manipulating the true state of B.C.’s finances — in other words, over inflating what the true debt and defect numbers will be — makes it easy to say you’re doing a great job.
The fact remains, however, they’re just cooking the books.
What grade would I give them if I were a Mathematics teacher? It would definitely be an “F”.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Confusing use of alacrity…even wrong usage of it. Sort of begs question, Does the questioner know what he is asking for? This reader sure doesn’t…..
Hey Al, much appreciate you looking into Horgan et all purchasing their first yacht and generally enriching themselves on the back of hard working British Columbians. But can you please do me a favor and check into GAAP in regards to allowable percentage in budgets discrepancy? Hereby we are at 10% or less although I can’t find the exact figure for the overall budget for all government entities you are referring to. Basically more information is required before I can be convinced the “books” have been indeed “cooked”. I also wonder if you could look into the books of the City of Kamloops with the same alacrity…just to keep you REALLY busy. Talk to you later with real information I hope.
I suppose you might actually direct the basic questions you posted to the Auditor General — after all, he’s the one who indicated the government was playing loose with the figures.
I would never have thought anything of today’s media release from the Finance Minister, if it hadn’t followed so closely on the heels of the Auditor General report less than 30 days ago.
Seems like it’s not so hard to keep track of “real information”, just like I did, you can do it yourself