Latest news with #OfficeoftheAuditorGeneral
Toronto Star
29-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Ontario unveils changes to provincial immigration nominee program
Ontario has introduced changes to its popular provincial immigration program to meet evolving economic needs. On Wednesday, the government tabled new legislation which, if passed, will give the provincial immigration minister the ability to establish or remove immigrant nomination streams to quickly respond to the changing job market and labour demand. The proposed changes to the provincial immigration program would also: •Allow officials to return applications that no longer match current job market needs or raise concerns; ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW •Grant inspectors the authority to require in-person interviews with applicants through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program, to improve program integrity and prevent fraudulent claims; •Further digitalize the application process by letting employers hoping to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residence submit applications directly and electronically to a new employer portal, starting this summer. These are among 18 new proposed measures in the Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025 that the Conservative government hopes to adopt to meet changing economic needs and build a stronger workforce. 'We're proposing changes that will prepare workers and businesses for the jobs of the future, while helping workers facing impacts from U.S. tariffs and economic uncertainty,' said David Piccini, minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development, in a statement. 'This package underscores our unwavering commitment to protecting our province's most valuable resource — our workers.' The Ontario immigration program, which allows the province to select and nominate prospective permanent residents for federal processing, has grown in capacity from 6,650 spots in 2019 to 21,500 last year, becoming a significant driving force of economic immigrants to the province. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW However, the Office of the Auditor General last December also identified numerous problems with the management of the program. Not only did few nominated immigrants have jobs or work experience in occupations with the highest vacancies, it found that verification processes were weak, particularly where documents are susceptible to misrepresentation or forgery. 'Results of inspections pointed to weaknesses in the Ministry's processes and mechanisms to prevent and catch misrepresentation before an application is approved and candidates are nominated,' said the report, noting that most inspections took the form of desk audits. Other proposed measures in the Working for Workers Seven Act include: requiring automated external defibrillators on construction projects; demanding job posting platforms to have a mechanism to report fraudulent publicly advertised job postings to the platform; speeding up referrals to in-demand training such as micro-credentials; and increasing support for workers in response to tariff-related terminations and layoffs.
Zawya
23-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Agriculture Committee Allows Department to Review Apps in Line with Medium-Term Development Plan
The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture received a briefing yesterday from the Office of the Auditor General (AGSA) on its review of the Department of Agriculture and its entities' 2025/26 annual performance plans (APPs) and budgets. The department and entities also made presentations on their APPs and budgets for the 2025/26 financial year. During the engagements, the committee told the department to review its 2025/26 APP in line with the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP). As part of its findings, the AGSA told the committee that seemingly the MTDP indicators and targets are not included in the department's strategic and annual performance plans. The committee heard that MTDP 2024–2029 is a five-year strategic blueprint developed by the 7th administration to drive national development. The MTDP aligns with the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 and integrates international commitments, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the AU Agenda 2063. The committee expressed concern after it learnt from the AGSA that the department has set annual reports as a target without clearly understanding the expected level of performance. The AGSA said this lack of specificity makes both the indicator and the target unclear and ambiguous. It also renders the AGSA unable to measure effectively, which undermines their usefulness for monitoring progress and evaluating performance. The committee told the department to revise its APPs, taking into account the AGSA's recommendations, for presentation on 6 May 2025. The Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Steenhuisen, who led the departmental delegation said the department met with the AGSA and has already undertaken to make amendments based on the AGSA recommendations. AGSA also presented reviews of the APPs of the department's three entities – the Agricultural Research Council, Onderstepoort Biological Products and the National Agricultural Council. As part of the presentation, the AGSA recommended that the committee should ask the department to present a revised 2025/26 APP along with a matrix showing changes made to performance indicators, their definitions and associated date sources. In addition, the committee should also ask the department for regular updates on this information. In welcoming all the presentations, the committee Chairperson, Ms Dina Pule, emphasised that the committee was not rejecting the APPs as presented, but rather allowing the department and its entities to reconstruct the APPs in light of the AGSA recommendations. In thanking the AGSA, Ms Pule said the committee has noted with appreciation the extensive and insightful reviews the AGSA has made. 'The committee has noted your recommendations and we assure you about our commitment to translating them into progressive actions to take the work of the department to the new heights,' said Ms Pule. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Audit finds Michigan's Child Protective Services still needs work; agency says review is flawed
Yvonne Benn and Keith Edwards from the Office of the Auditor General testify to the House Child Welfare System Committee on April 15, 2025 | Screenshot It's been more than six years since the Michigan Auditor General's office delivered a scathing evaluation of how the state health department conducts Child Protective Services investigations, and the department is maintaining that though improvements are necessary, the audit has always been flawed. Members of the Office of the Auditor General, or OAG, testified before the Michigan state House's Child Welfare System Committee Tuesday to outline some of the findings from the 2018 report and a subsequent updated report from July 2024 that the office says the health department has still not addressed. Those findings include the OAG's assertion that CPS is still failing to initiate investigations in a timely 24-hour manner, potentially leaving children in dangerous conditions for prolonged periods of time. But the bulk of the remaining issues the updated audit found place more focus on documentation and less focus on what actually protects children from cycles of violence, Senior Deputy Director of Michigan's Children's Services Administration, or CSA, Demetrius Starling told lawmakers on the committee. CSA is housed in the state health department. Since the 2018 report, as confirmed by the updated audit, Michigan has made movement to improve Child Protective Services, with Starling crediting the department's Keep Kids Safe agenda, unveiled in 2023, for improvements. 'The [Michigan Department of Health and Human Services'] investigates approximately 70,000 referrals of potential abuse and neglect on an annual basis and uses comprehensive approaches to provide the necessary responses based on the risk of each child,' Starling said. 'Michigan kids are counting on us.' Since 2018, the state health department has complied with several recommendations from the OAG, Yvonne Benn, an audit agency administrator with the OAG said. The updated audit found such improvements like improved timeliness for completing CPS investigations and referring cases to applicable prosecuting attorneys when appropriate. Benn said after Tuesday, members from the OAG will return to the committee next week to continue presenting recommendations they say the health department has not addressed. In regards to the specific issue of investigation initiation, Starling said the updated audit acknowledges that CPS since 2018 has firmed up its definition of what constitutes the commencement of an investigation as once an investigator gets face to face with a reported victim for a safety assessment. But that face-to-face interaction is taking on-average 72 hours to occur, Keith Edwards, who oversaw the OAG's follow up told committee members Tuesday. Michigan law doesn't prescribe what defines the commencement of an investigation, but Edwards said auditors found that CPS's adopted policies fall short of other states' child safety standards. CPS' current policy to start the clock at face-to-face intervention gives investigators and violence prevention stakeholders time to gain a solid understanding of a child's situation, Starling said. 'At the end of the day, all of these cases are important, so our staff are very diligent about the fact of trying to or at least attempting to make contact within 24 hours… we do a lot of background work with a lot of folks,' Starling said. 'So we're gathering evidence by looking at our own case history. We're doing case planning with our supervisors. We're making other successful investigative contexts before, in some instances, face-to-face is even attempted. So there's a lot of work that goes into preparing for an investigation and committing an investigation.' As the state health department continues to disagree with several of the findings in the OAG's audit, Starling said the audits have not been without merit as auditors acknowledged several actions taken by the department to improve child welfare. 'We all have a common goal, which is to ensure that kids are safe. I think we can find some common ground,' Starling said. 'We want to make changes, whether it be policy or statutory changes to make sure that families and children are safe in our community, so there's no acrimony. There's no hard feelings, but however, I do stand by the fact that there are some things within this report that are inaccurate.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
New York Times
28-03-2025
- General
- New York Times
Live Updates: Strong Earthquake Strikes Myanmar
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday, the United States Geological Survey said, damaging buildings there and shaking cities across a vast expanse of Southeast Asia, as far as Bangkok, in neighboring Thailand. The quake struck near Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city of more than a million people, around 12:50 p.m. local time the agency said. An aftershock of magnitude 6.4 was recorded 12 minutes later at a nearby location. A magnitude of 7.7 is considered to be strong. At a depth of about six miles, the quake was relatively shallow, which made it likely to cause violent shaking. After the tremor in Mandalay, people were rushed to the main hospital. Images taken in that city that were posted on social media showed a bridge that had crashed into a river. Others showed damaged buildings. Details about the extent of the damage and casualties in Myanmar were not immediately available. The nation has been ravaged by a civil war that began after the military seized power in a coup four years ago. Video from Bangkok showed people in panic in the streets and inside buildings like shopping centers. In central Bangkok, the streets were full of people who were afraid of aftershocks or were not allowed back into their buildings. Traffic was at a virtual standstill. Videos uploaded to social media and verified by The New York Times showed the collapse of a 30-story skyscraper that was under construction in the Chatuchak district of Bangkok. The videos showed construction workers and passers-by running for safety, while other videos filmed from an elevated highway showed large clouds of dust and debris engulfing the surrounding area. Thai media reports described the building as the new Office of the Auditor General. Rescue teams on Friday at a construction site in Bangkok, where a building collapsed. Credit... Lillian Suwanrumpha/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The shaking was also felt west of Myanmar in Bangladesh, including in its capital, Dhaka, but there were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake also shook buildings in Vietnam, including Hanoi, the capital, and Ho Chi Minh City, the state-run news outlet VnExpress reported. Saif Hasnat contributed reporting from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Richard C. Paddock in Bangkok.
CBC
13-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
P.E.I.'s affordable housing program isn't delivering desired results, says Auditor General
Prince Edward Island's Affordable Housing Development Program fell short of its intended purpose, the province's Auditor General says. A report from the Office of the Auditor General found glaring issues with how the program is run, as well as with its overall impact on the creation of affordable housing units in the province. "The program has not had the planned or expected impact on increasing the inventory of affordable rental units for those in core housing need," the report said. "When units are not completed in a timely manner, housing availability is not improved, housing costs increase, and those who are in most need of housing are at risk of homelessness." The government measured the performance of the program based on the number of approved projects — not the number of projects actually completed, the AG report said. "The fact that they're approved, that's great," said Darren Noonan, P.E.I.'s Auditor General. "But the ultimate goal is to get families off [the social housing] registry and into housing units." What is the Affordable Housing Development Program? The aim of the Affordable Housing Development Program is to increase the overall number of affordable housing units on P.E.I. and help fulfill the Housing Action Plan's goal to create 1,000 affordable units over four years. Through the program, the government provided developers forgivable loans of up to $55,000 per unit, which was intended to support construction costs in exchange for keeping rental rates at an affordable level. Between 2020 and 2023, the government has provided $12.7 million in forgivable loans for 261 affordable units over a four-year period. Of those, 69 are completed, 63 are in progress and 129 have not started construction. At the time the program was started, there were just over 1,000 families on the social housing registry, Noonan said. Had the program produced the 261 units it was intended to, it could have provided homes for about 25 per cent of the registry, Noonan said. The Auditor General's report The Office of the Auditor General also found that the government did not adequately collect information on dates of funding agreements, updates from developers or expected construction dates. That absence of documentation "reflects a lack of attention to the program," Noonan said. The government should be working with developers as partners, he said. "If they're not starting a project, find out why. What can they do to help?" he said. "It's a big problem, the number of affordable housing units on the market, so there has to be a way to work with developers to help fix the problem." The Office of the Auditor General provided five recommendations to the province, all of which were accepted. The province said in the audit that it will improve its record-keeping and how it reports on the housing program.
