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Ottawa’s auditor general has audited that city’s police and library. Toronto’s AG, governed by different but similar rules, has done a significant amount of work on policing.

“I can work in those areas if I’m requested to,” said Ottawa’s auditor general, Ken Hughes. “My office has done work at the request of the police services board and the library board. I can also ask to work in those areas.”

Even if these organizations want to be audited, they are not subject to the full power of an auditor general, including the power to subpoena witnesses, Windsor’s report says.

“That hasn’t been a concern,” says Jerry Shaubel, an accountant in the Toronto AG’s office. “I wouldn’t accept it (a request to be audited) if there was an attempt to place restrictions on it.”

A municipal auditor general also can’t audit corporations controlled by the city, like the airport or tunnel, or bodies that received city grants, like the economic development corporation, the Windsor report states. That’s not true, and the city will issue a “clarification,” confirmed chief administrative officer Helga Reidel, who signed off on the report.

The report goes on about how much an auditor general would cost – $586,366 or less than .1 per cent of the city’s total budget of about three-quarters of a billion dollars. It may not be enough, the report warns. You have to be Superman to be qualified for this job, and the candidate may demand a higher salary. There’s no space in city hall, so the city may have to rent an office. And the clincher — the city may have to raise taxes or cut programs to pay for an AG.