Mr. Speaker, on October 7 the auditor general released a report chronicling serious deficiencies in the internal controls regulating the use of government credit cards, also known as acquisition cards.
Since 1992 the use of acquisition cards has grown from 2,000 to over 20,000 this past year, representing $172 million in purchases in 1996 alone.
The idea behind the use of acquisition cards is sound. They reduce the need of individual departments and public works to process numerous cheques and purchase orders for small purchases and thus save the government badly needed dollars. I believe any idea that can save taxpayer money is definitely worth looking into.
The problem with these cards, however, arises with the implementation and administration of a proper control system and, as documented so clearly the auditor general earlier this month, the government has been at best sloppy, at worse apathetic, in implementing such a system.
For example, in his report the auditor general noted that credit cards are not issued based on need and that the the credit limits on cards seldom reflect the use of the cards. People who do not need cards are getting them and people who should have cards are not.
Further, employees do not accept responsibility for cards and are not required to follow regulations. Employees are not properly instructed on the use of acquisition cards. When an employee leaves, cards are not properly cancelled. Even more alarming is that government organizations do not monitor and follow up card accounts that are inactive or that are suddenly used after lying dormant.
Organizations do not monitor, verify or audit their employees' purchases even though Treasury Board requires them to do so. Often an employee can certify the payment of their own account without management double checking to ensure that all purchases are valid ones.
The auditor general also observed that cards were being used to make unauthorized purchases. In many cases it was difficult to tell if the card was actually being used by the employee to whom it was registered or used by some other unauthorized person. There was even evidence that items had been purchased on government cards that were for non-government use.
The report went on to condemn the fact that quite often departments do not know how many credit cards under their control have been lost or stolen.
Finally to add insult to injury, during three months last year the government was so shabby with its record keeping that it racked up late payment charges of almost $80,000 because the government could not pay its credit card bills on time.
I own a small convenience store in Tilley, New Brunswick. I can say without prejudice that if I ran my store the way this government goes about its business without proper control over expenditures, I would certainly have been out of business years ago.
Last week the minister stated that he felt there was not a problem yet and that eventually the government would get around to fixing it. If you have a leaky roof, is it good enough to say that since it is not raining you do not have a problem?
Let me ask the minister once again. What steps is he prepared to take to stop this reckless use of acquisition cards and thereby save taxpayers from having to foot the bill for the government's carelessness on this matter?