Work in Progress

About 5,000 spills are reported every year in B.C. Spills can cause significant harm to people and the environment. They commonly involve gasoline, diesel, and heating fuel, but can also include other hazardous substances, such as toxic gases or corrosives.  
 
Our audit will assess whether the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, through its Environmental Emergency Program, has effectively managed hazardous spills to protect the welfare of the public and the environment. 

We will look at several areas including: 

• Planning, response and recovery 
• Regulatory compliance
• Cost recovery 

For more information, watch the auditor general's announcement video.

Updated: April 2023

We are working on two reports for the Legislative Assembly related to our independent audit of B.C.’s 2022/23 Summary Financial Statements. 

These financial statements pull together about $80 billion of annual expenses of ministries, Crown corporations, schools, post-secondary institutions, agencies, and health organizations – in all, more than 160 government entities. 

Our audit, the biggest of its kind in B.C., shows MLAs whether government has presented the statements fairly in accordance with Canadian Public Sector Accounting Standards.

Our independent auditor’s report is published in the government’s Summary Financial Statements in the summer. Our supplementary reports on the financial audit work allow us to share additional information on our audit process and matters of interest in the fall and winter.

The first report on the Summary Financial Statements audit will supporting the role of MLAs. It will explain our work on the statements and the significance of our independent auditor’s report.

The second report will highlight noteworthy items we found during our audit of the statements that weren’t included in the independent auditor’s report.  

Our reports will be released separately, in November and early-2024.

Updated: October 2023

Since 2016 – when B.C.’s provincial health officer declared a public health emergency because of a high number of deaths due to illicit toxic drugs – more than 11,000 British Columbians have died. 

We are conducting two audits of harm reduction services, which are a key part of the B.C. government’s response to the toxic drug crisis.

Our audits include: 

• overdose prevention and supervised consumption services, and 
• prescribed safer supply.

We will determine whether the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and the Ministry of Health ensured the effective implementation of overdose prevention and supervised consumption services by health authorities. We will also conclude whether the ministries have effectively monitored the initial implementation of the prescribed safer supply initiative. 

Our auditors are looking at: 

• provincial strategic guidance, 
• monitoring, evaluation, and reporting, and 
• how challenges and barriers to implementation are identified and addressed.

We plan to release the audits together by early-2024. They replace a previously announced audit on substance use services.

For more information, watch the auditor general's announcement video.

Updated: March 2023