After months of refusing to turn over key financial documents to Ontario’s auditor general, the Laurentian University administration has been given a deadline of February 1st to comply by Ontario’s legislature.
The Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) is welcoming this latest development in the University’s ongoing insolvency process and has been pressing for the release of key documents, including those related to the University’s dealings with LUFA.
“LUFA’s members support transparency and have made it clear to Laurentian University that all requested information should be made available to the Auditor General,” said LUFA executive director, Linda St Pierre. “Faculty, staff, students, community and, indeed, all Ontario taxpayers deserve answers on what drove Laurentian University into insolvency.”
The Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts voted on December 8 to issue a speaker’s warrant compelling University president Dr. Robert Haché and Board Chair Mr. Claude Lacroix to release financial documents required by the province’s Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk by February 1, 2022.
The Auditor General last spring initiated a value-for-money audit on the university’s operations from 2010-2020 in an effort to shed light on what led the University to become the first public post-secondary institution in Canada to file for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.
The Auditor General has reported to the Committee that the University restricted her office’s access to the information required to conduct its work. To force the issue, she filed an application with Ontario’s Superior Court in September.
Laurentian University declared insolvency February 1, 2021 and later cut more than 100 faculty and staff positions.