Lets talk about audits: A great deal has been made in newspaper columns of late about the poor

bookkeeping practised by the Attawapiskat Band Council, even though, it should be highlighted, the auditors did not find any evidence of wrongdoing or fraud. Whereas in the case of the F35s, Canadas parliamentary budget watchdog, Kevin Page, found the Conservative government to be keeping two sets of books, one for DND and one for the public; a finding supported by Canadas own Auditor-Generals damning report released in April, 2012. This in addition to the previous years finding from Canadas interim AuditorGeneral that rules were broken, and protocols not followed during the federal governments billion dollar spending spree leading up to, and during the 2010 G8/20 summits in Toronto-- chief among the examples of dubious spending was a complete lack of documentation to account for how Tony Clements Parry Sound-Muskoka riding was gifted with a $50 million dollar infrastructure investment meant to reduce border congestion even though the riding is not near the border. Given these examples, we have to ask ourselves: Which governing body demands a closer eye? The one managing under harsh conditions in a remote, northern community with a population of roughly 1 500 people? Or the one in Ottawa with a surfeit of well-trained staff and administrative capacity at its disposal? Marc Spooner, Jan. 11, 2013