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Ford created a three-person commission, led by former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell, to dig through 15 years of Liberal government bookkeeping, looking for fiscal nefariousness. The commission has access to Liberal cabinet minutes, something the new government itself does not. Even if the commission doesn’t find anything new, it’s relatively inexpensive and makes for good political theatre.

A band of accountants will conduct what is being billed as a line-by-line review of provincial spending. Let’s hope they aim a little higher. It’s not like they are going to find line items called “waste and inefficiency.” If they conduct a value-for-money audit of provincial programs, they will have made a useful contribution that will help determine Ford’s first full budget next spring.

Our role is to explain. It’s important to me that was always come across as non-partisan, because that’s where our credibility comes from

Weltman won’t have to wait that long for his first real test. The PCs will deliver a budget update this fall, and Weltman said in an interview that his office will carefully examine that update and compare it to the numbers the Liberals delivered last spring. If there is some wishful thinking, it’s his responsibility to tell us. Weltman will also report on the costs of getting out of cap and trade.

Appointed in May, Weltman seems like just the sort of chap for the job. The former senior official with the Parliamentary Budget Office is analytical, focused on the story the numbers tell and has a good sense of humour.

He’ll need that, because the recent record of government listening to its key independent advisers is not encouraging. The previous government rejected the deficit contentions of both the financial accountability office and the auditor general, dismissing the issue as an accounting dispute. Ford has promised to work with the AG and Weltman’s office. He will need to, or he will quickly have the same credibility deficit as his predecessor.