Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna is promising more accountability after the auditor general found her department continuously failed to meet its goals.
Speaking to the House of Commons transport committee, McKenna said the department needs to “do a better job of explaining” following the condemnations from the auditor general.
“We need to fix this. That’s something I am committed to because we obviously need to get a full accounting,” she said.
“Let’s be one hundred percent clear. We have lost no projects. We have tracked all the projects.”
In March, Auditor General Karen Hogan published a report slamming the government’s $188 billion Investing in Canada Plan, warning that goals were not being met, progress was not being reported and funding was going unspent.
“The absence of clear and complete reporting on the Investing in Canada Plan makes it difficult for parliamentarians and Canadians to know whether progress is being made against the intended objectives,” Hogan wrote.
Earlier in the month, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux told the transport committee that McKenna’s department is not able to provide documentation for 9000 separate infrastructure projects.
Conservative Infrastructure critic Andrew Scheer said the government’s infrastructure department “is in shambles.”
“This is unacceptable. It is up to Justin Trudeau and his ministers to ensure their departments are functioning. How did they lose 9,000 projects?” said Scheer in a statement.
In the face of criticism from Hogan and the transport committee, McKenna defended her department, claiming they have accurate information on infrastructure projects but they have done a poor job communicating it.
“We have provided the information on all the projects,” said McKenna.
McKenna has also been criticized for her department’s handling of many projects under the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
The Canada Infrastructure Bank, which has yet to complete a project since being created by the Liberals four years ago, recently failed to invite the public to its annual public meeting, leading to more accusations of unaccountability.
