March 27, 2013 - 12:19 PM
VICTORIA - The Speaker of the British Columbia legislature will release the auditor general's report on the B.C. government's carbon-trading system today.
In a statement, Speaker Bill Barisoff says he still has concerns about the advance distribution of John Doyle's report to some members of the legislature before his office receiving the report, but he will make the audit public.
Barisoff held back Tuesday's scheduled release of Doyle's audit of the Liberal government's carbon neutral initiative, citing a possible breach of Parliament.
Independent MLA Bob Simpson says he received an embargoed copy of the report from the office of the auditor general on Monday and New Democrat attorney general critic Leonard Krog said he was almost certain the NDP also received a copy.
Doyle's report is expected to be a highly critical review of the government's attempts to reduce carbon pollution with a system that critics have said costs schools, hospitals and other public entities hundreds of thousands of dollars, while private industries benefit.
Leaked letters that surfaced before the report's release showed that carbon trading experts were concerned about Doyle's report, calling it useless and saying it created controversy where none exists.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013