Auditor General of Canada


The role of the Auditor General of Canada is to aid accountability by conducting independent audits of federal government operations. The Auditor General reports to the House of Commons of Canada, not to the government. These audits provide members of Parliament with objective information to help them examine the government's activities and hold it to account.
Karen Hogan was appointed Auditor General of Canada in June 2020. She replaced interim Auditor General of Canada Sylvain Ricard.

Office

Auditors General are appointed by the Governor General in Council on address of the House of Commons and Senate for a non-renewable term of ten years. An Auditor General may only be removed for cause by the Governor in Council with the approval of both the House of Commons and Senate.
The Auditor General’s responsibilities include:
On November 4, 2011, the Prime Minister appointed Michael Ferguson, former Auditor General of the province of New Brunswick, as Auditor General of Canada, effective November 28, 2011. Sylvain Ricard, having been previously the Deputy Auditor General, was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 29, 2019 to serve until a permanent replacement was selected.
The Office of the Auditor General of Canada was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc. five years in a row, and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine.
The , was created by Parliament in 1995 as an aide to the AGC, and has offices within the precinct of the AGC. The Commissioner is empowered under the 1995 amendments to the Auditor-General Act to receive " petitions on environmental and sustainable development matters and require ministers to respond to them." The petition process requires the Ministry to respond in 120 days, although the process may be delayed by litigation.

History

The role of Auditor General was introduced in 1878 and prior to the creation it was the Head of the Audit Board.
In 1971, the Auditor General's Office hosted VII INCOSAI, the seventh triennial convention of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.

List of Auditors General of Canada

Auditor GeneralAppointedDeparted
John Langton18671878
John Lorn McDougall18781905
John Fraser19051919
Edward Davenport Sutherland19191923
Georges Gonthier19241939
Robert Watson Sellar19401959
Andrew Maxwell Henderson19601973
James J. Macdonell19731980
Michael H. Rayner 19801981
Kenneth M. Dye19811991
Denis Desautels19912001
Sheila Fraser20012011
John Wiersema 20112011
Michael Ferguson20112019
Sylvain Ricard 20192020
Karen Hogan2020Incumbent