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Drawing on the theme of effective oversight, Alberta’s auditor general issued his annual fall report Tuesday that featured both good and bad examples of the concept.

On the positive side, Merwan Saher’s 220-page report praised the provincial government for improving its performance to address recommendations made by his office. Over the last five years, outstanding recommendations have been brought down to 160 from 278.

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However, Saher also noted some previously identified problems that have yet to be resolved, along with newly identified issues in the areas of finance, health care, education and environment. Here are the highlights:

Post-secondary institutions

The auditor found the provincial government is lacking proper safeguards to manage the risks when universities and colleges engage in for-profit business ventures.

Saher noted an increasing number of institutions are embarking on such ventures, including the creation of a land trust to develop vacant land at the University of Alberta, selling food through NAIT’s retail meat store, and renting conference space at the University of Calgary.