Auditor General protects the Dude Premier Gallant over his very corrupt tax assessment system

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/auditor-general-report-property-assessment-1.4415513

Auditor general blames Service NB for rush to bungled tax assessment system

Investigation didn't establish Premier Brian Gallant ordered fast-tracking of system, report says

By Jacques Poitras, CBC News Posted: Nov 23, 2017 10:26 AM AT


 111 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.


  
Brad Little

Kim's next order of business should be looking into Gilman's "retirement package". No doubt, he got a multi million dollar golden handshake to step down. Poor Kim must feel like she's playing a never ending game of whack a mole here in New Brunswick.

David Raymond Amos

@Brad Little Higgs said. "Forgive me if I don't necessarily believe what the premier and Minister Rousselle are espousing,"

Well from personal experience in dealing with both of them I can say the same of him and "Poor Kim"

 
Douglas James

Gallant is at the top and needs to accept responsibility for this fiasco.

David Raymond Amos

@Dave Peters "They just need approval from the minister"

Ahh therein lies the rub. Who does the Minister seek approval from? And who doth both dudes seek approval from? Methinks we can decide that every 4 years for about 30 days or so. Then the Irvings. the backroom boys and their bankster and lawyer buddies have the last say until the next election.

 
Mint-Berry Crunch

Remind me again who's ultimately in charge of Service NB?

David Raymond Amos

@Mint-Berry Crunch Methinks it is always the temporary "Power That Be" who ride on the tides of "Change"

  
Barbara Canuski

Gordon Gilman was a veteran civil servant with 37 years service, he didnt step out of line with the Premier's Office. He would not have made the decision to fastrack on his own. Especially if his own staff told him it was risky.

David Raymond Amos

@Barbara Canuski "He would not have made the decision to fastrack on his own. Especially if his own staff told him it was risky"

YUP

After 37 years service he must know the wicked game quite well by now.. I will lay odds he got quite a golden handshake that most NB taxpayers would be envious of. If Gordon Gilman does not speak up in his own defence then methinks we will know for sure that the fix was in to protect the Premier. N'esy Pas?

David Raymond Amos

@Dave Peters I agree. If my Father were alive to witness this circus I have no doubt whatsoever he would have lots to say on this topic. Whereas that is not the case I will try remind folks that the civil service was far more honourable 40 years ago.

If you are who I think you are I bet you knew of my Father. He was Max Amos. He was Supervisor of Taxation for New Brunswick from 1967 until he died in 1984. If Service New Brunswick existed back then he would have been basicly the CEO but his job did not come and go with changes in government mandates. However the Deputy Ministers above him such as Gordon Gilman were politically appointed temporary bosses who did the politicians bidding with whipping the help to do what they wanted done. He did not have much respect for those social climbers from the ranks of hard working civil servants. Such people have always existed and always will.

My Father and his younger sister were raised dirt poor by grandparents after his parents divorced when he was 5 years old. He worked hard to achieve his position. Yet he never forgot his roots and the decent people who raised him. Need I say that I was awful proud of my Father in the way he made Mr KC Irving pay his taxes and how he went out of his way to give his fellow ordinary Maritimer equal service that only the rich ones felt they were entitled to.

Lots of people came to my Father's funeral but I saw no Irvings or politicians. Methinks if any of them did attend they would have taken a wide berth of of my Father's wild child namely me. I am a much different man that my Father was and have lived longer and had ten times more fun than he did. However out of respect I named my son after the very decent hard working civil servant who raised me.


 
Mack Leigh

" Can't prove that Gallant was the culprit " but much more important is that AG could NOT prove that Gallant wasn't the culprit !!!!

Frank Dee

@Dave Peters Isn't Bob Jones with CBC?

David Raymond Amos

@Frank Dee Bob Jones has a boss too. His name is Huber Lacroix. That lawyer is a Harper appointee Hence Mr. Jones is just another bureaucrat following political orders.

LIONEL WHITE

@Dave Peters .., I guess they pin the tail on the right donkey (Gallant) as our taxes have been creeping up.up up and away

LIONEL WHITE

@David Raymond Amos ...,Is this the same lawyer appointed by Trudeau who is now fighting against our veterans ??

David Raymond Amos

@LIONEL WHITE Nope he is this Harper buddy who got caught with his fingers in the cookie jar

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cbc-president-hubert-lacroix-repays-30k-in-expenses-1.2546300

 
Colin Seeley

3 Guesses. First 2 don’t count.

He's a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody

Doesn't have a point of view
Knows not where he's going to

He's as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere Man can you see me at all?

“ And the Buck would Stop Where ?”

David Raymond Amos 

@Colin Seeley The Buck always stops with you know who.

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

Don't ask me what I want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me


  
Shawn McShane

The government announced Gilman's retirement from the provincial civil service YESTERDAY...."perception" that Gallant ordered the fast track was based on communications from Service New Brunswick executives, including then-CEO Gordon Gilman.

David Raymond Amos

@Barbara Canuski Methinks somebody should tell his puppet masters such as Frank McKenna, Len Hoyt, Doug Tyler, Greg Byrne and Jack Keir that they need to rethink some things for their purported boss to say ASAP before our Premier take another fancy trip away from the voters who thought he was an ok dude change their minds. N'esy Pas?

 

Miles Long

So did the SNB executives have incentive bonuses like those federal executives who prospered from rushing throuh the Phoenix pay system,

David Raymond Amos

@Miles Long Methinks they merely got to keep their jobs

 

Barbara Canuski

"On May 25, 2016, O'Brien emailed Gilman to ask if there was "any word" on the acceleration. Gilman then emailed a vice-president to say O'Brien was "after me — so need for tomorrow at latest."

When the Premier's Chief of Staff asks a CEO of SNB if there is "any word" on the acceleration, and the CEO emails his VP to get on it, that is basically the Premier (speaking through his representative) saying: "fasttrack!"

Doug Leblanc

Why was the premiers chief of staff following up on this if it was “nothing”. Does anyone think gillman or anyone would sit by and watch “lies” about the premiers involvement appear in emails and PowerPoint and newsletters. More to this story.

The premier not knowing about this is just as bad as ordering it.

David Raymond Amos

@Doug Leblanc "Why was the premiers chief of staff following up on this if it was “nothing”.

Thats not rocket science to me. More from taxation is not nothing. It is the life blood for these vampires working for Banksters whol put them in office. Methinks the minion was ordered to "follow up" by the unelected old boys with big bellies dressed in red coats and short pants who are found in the backrooms or bars or on the golf courses making deals. The Conservatives are no different and within the year they will have a stab at unseating their pals in the Red Coats. Win or lose the old boys will keep golfing and scheming until they get another chance to sneak back into the backrooms Banksters, lawyers and auditors control The other parties are just jealous other than one Green they don't have a ticket to ride the gravy train.

Methinks the awful truth is most folks don't care about politicking. The politicians rely on it. Everybody knows the game is corrupt. Most people vote for their team no matter what. Thus nearly every election is decided by the swing voters. If the 40 percent or so of us got off the couch and voted then we may see a true change. However we don't care enough to do so. So we get the governments we deserve.

We say nothing about the nonsense of it all until it directly affects our personal interests. When I ran for the first time in 2004 a friend told me he overheard and couple of elderly ladies talking about me while they were leaving a hall after a debate. One lady said "You know if that thing was a conservative I would vote for it" and the other agreed. I laughed because the ladies just proved my point in spades. He and I both know that everything is political and its always about the money so I challenge Banksters and lawyers in a political fashion

David Raymond Amos

@Barbara Canuski FYI I don't believe any of them particularly "Poor Kim" and the rest of them yapping on CBC this morning

https://twitter.com/infoamfred

Google two names to see why the names are obviously

Kim MacPherson David Amos

 
Ray Bungay

Whether or not the AG can tie The Premier to this mess is irrevellant as he is the top guy in TheGovernment of NB and the Liberal Party. So whether he ordered the fast track himself or not he is “guilty” by the fact he is the alleged Premier of this Province so must accept he is the one.

LIONEL WHITE

@Dave Peters ...,Now we know how somebody like gallant got where he is now.We had a half descent premier prior to this guy.right? .

David Raymond Amos

@Ray Bungay Perhaps the devil made him do it?

David Raymond Amos

@LIONEL WHITE Methinks you must be joking

 

Stephen Wood

Gallant throws CEO Gordon Gilman under the Bus and Gilman is willing to take the hit for Gallant.. If the AG cant find the truth, maybe it is time for an Independent Investigation to be done. What do NBers say?

David Raymond Amos

@Stephen Wood What do NBers say?

Methinks the wise ones said this long ago

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"

Small wonder why so many folks don't bother to vote N'esy Pas?

  
Doug Leblanc

Why was Ed Doherty not interviewed?

Did AG question people informally or under oath?

Why wasnt cabinet approval of the money reviewed?

How much was Gillman paid on the way out?

David Raymond Amos

@Doug Leblanc "Why was Ed Doherty not interviewed?"

Methinks that it was not politically correct to do so if "Poor Kim" wanted to keep her job.

 
Jef Cronkhite

I have been saying this for years. The Elected Government only sets policy. It is the SAME bureaucrats working in those government office, regardless of who controls government, and it is those bureaucrats that need to be replaced!

LIONEL WHITE

@Jef Cronkhite ..,How does it feel like, saying the wrong things for years.

David Raymond Amos

@LIONEL WHITE The old bard once wisely wrote "To thine ownself be true"

Methinks you should ask yourself that question first. N'esy Pas?

David Raymond Amos

@Jef Cronkhite "it is those bureaucrats that need to be replaced"

YUP

Those bureaucrats call the elected politicians temporary help

 

LIONEL WHITE

Hey what's wrong, why not blame Harper? Thats been the blame game so far, why change now.

David Raymond Amos

@LIONEL WHITE I knew it was Harper's plan all along Give a crook enough rope and they will hang themselves or one of theirs friends. Remember Harper's Chief of Staff paying off Duffy from his personnal funds??? YEA RIGHT

LIONEL WHITE

@David Raymond Amos ...,Yea i also remember this ADSCAM fiasco.Oh Yea it's Harper's fault.Do you remember also as soon as the election was over, no more Duffy?Was that a hoax? i believe so.

LIONEL WHITE

@David Raymond Amos ..,Your following the wrong donkey I believe you should change course

Content disabled.

David Raymond Amos

@LIONEL WHITE Nope I know the score and it ain't no Hockey game I have been playing with your team since 2001. Clearly you don't even know who I am. Why else would you bring up the not so popular one Harper that owns? Trust that the ass I am leading is mine. I am taking it with me loaded down with documentation as I head down the yellow brick road to the Supreme Court paved by Harper and now maintained by Trudeau "The Younger". Seems that to me that only Conservatives are worth knowing about to you. Otherwise why insult me? Methinks I know more about ADSCAM etc than you do. For instance did you know Justice Gomery's daughter was just appointed to be a judge by the liberals. Could it be because I mentioned her and her famous local client to her former partner during a hearing before the Federal Court of Appeal on May 24th? Methinks so What say you now?

David Raymond Amos

@LIONEL WHITE We all know why CBC blocked my response N'esy Pas Mr Lacroix and Minister Joly?

David Raymond Amos

@LIONEL WHITE Methinks Conservatives and Liberals should surf the Internet with my name and this number T-1557-15 Nesy Pas?

David Raymond Amos

If CBC is gonna write about Gallant's help perhaps they should be fair and report what they read in their emails in which Dominic Cardy Chief of Staff for Higgs teased me about his Butter Tart Fetish, Iceland and his wacky Puddy Cat he named "Puffin"

David Raymond Amos 

@David Raymond Amos

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/answers-fast-track-decision-investigators-auditor-general-1.4417325

Political parties discuss reasoning behind property assessment fiasco
Kim MacPherson spent two hours answering MLAs questions on Thursday's report
By Robert Jones, Posted: Nov 24, 2017 7:41 AM AT

"She did offer a short list of two likely suspects who might have generated the fast track idea, including former Service New Brunswick CEO Gordon Gilman and Brian Gallant's chief of staff, Jordan O'Brien she could not pick between them.

"It was the conversation between the chief of staff and the former CEO that led to fast track," said MacPherson. "But being able to definitely state what those conversations were …"


  
Corey Trevor

How many zeroes were on the cheque Brian Gallant wrote to her with the memo line "Don't blame me!" on it?

Content disabled.

David Raymond Amos

@Corey Trevor Methinkks that this is old news and the comment section has yet to close

Auditor general blames Service NB for rush to bungled tax assessment system

Investigation didn't establish Premier Brian Gallant ordered fast-tracking of system, report says

By Jacques Poitras, CBC News Posted: Nov 23, 2017 10:26 AM AT

 

New Brunswick Auditor General Kim MacPherson released her report Thursday on the property assessment scandal. (Jacques Poitras/CBC) 

Auditor-General Kim MacPherson is blaming the leadership of Service New Brunswick for failing to acknowledge the "high risk" of "fast-tracking" a new property assessment system.

MacPherson says in an audit released Thursday morning that the new system, which led to thousands of assessment errors earlier this year, failed because Service New Brunswick moved too quickly and communicated poorly.

• Auditor general presents report on property assessment mess Thursday 
• Auditor general takes over review of tax mess after former judge backs out 
• Tax records show huge jumps in assessments in province   

She said she "could not determine" if Premier Brian Gallant himself ordered the fast-tracking of the new system, though she said a May 2016 presentation of the new system, and a followup call by chief of staff Jordan O'Brien "contributed to SNB's perceived sense of urgency."

And she said assessment staff admitted to her during her audit that "quotes attributed to the Premier," widely reported in the media, "were not based on direct conversations with him."

MacPherson calls one key quote attributed to Gallant in a slide show —"I want to see it in half the time" — as coming from what she calls "a fictional conversation."

She said the staff's "perception" that Gallant ordered the fast track was based on communications from Service New Brunswick executives, including then-CEO Gordon Gilman.

The government announced Gilman's retirement from the provincial civil service on Wednesday.

Tax bills inflated

Service New Brunswick's new digital property assessment system, launched last fall, produced inflated property tax bills for thousands of landowners.

Rather than catch and fix the mistakes, some officials made up renovation amounts on some homes to justify inflated values the new system was falsely detecting.

Property taxes on homes cannot rise by more than 10 per cent a year if there have been no renovations. The phoney renovation amounts allowed Service New Brunswick to raise assessments beyond the 10 per cent cap.

• Charity paves driveway for boy, then his family's property assessment soars $50,900 
• Senior officials put Brian Gallant at 'genesis' of assessment scandal 
• 'Fast track wouldn't exist without the premier': Assessment controversy continues

A record 18,000 landowners challenged their assessments, and as of last week, 10,000 had won reductions.

Premier Brian Gallant never accepted responsibility for the fast-tracking of the new property assessment system and blamed Service New Brunswick officials. (CBC)

A slide show presentation obtained by CBC News earlier this year said the new system would take three years to implement, but after the May 6, 2016, presentation to Gallant, Service New Brunswick was told, "I want to see it in half that time," a comment attributed to the premier.

Emails said Service New Brunswick CEO Gordon Gilman asked staff to accelerate implementation after the presentation.

"It comes directly from the premier," one staffer wrote. Another wrote that Gallant "subsequently requested to move faster" with the initiative.

Can't prove Gallant was culprit

That led the Progressive Conservative Opposition to paint Gallant as the main culprit in the fiasco.
But MacPherson said her audit was unable to establish if that's true.

She said SNB's director of modernization felt Gallant was "impressed" with the new system after the presentation, and O'Brien followed up by calling Gilman with questions about the technology.

This one-page document details how the property assessment modernization was going to be rolled out. (CBC)

That led Gilman to ask a vice-president "to prepare a business case for accelerating the implementation" of the new system's aerial photography.

MacPherson wrote that it's clear the presentation to Gallant "started the chain events" leading to "fast track," but she received "conflicting accounts" about "critical conversations" that took place over the phone.

She said there was "no apparent urgency" in an email from O'Brien to Gilman about the acceleration of the aerial photography. Gilman told her he didn't speak directly to Gallant about it.

O'Brien told her his followup with Gilman was based on concerns about the public reaction to a new system "and the tone was cautionary rather than urgent."

Denies asking for acceleration

Gallant told her he didn't ask for the acceleration and wasn't aware of it until March of this year. That's when problems with assessments became public knowledge.

MacPherson said internal SNB communications in June 2016 include a slide show that was obtained by CBC News earlier this year.

She says the slides attributing comments to Gallant were used to "inform and motivate" the assessment staff. One slide "depicts a fictional conversation" in which Gallant asks for faster implementation and another "paraphrases" the premier.

"Both of these communications are not direct quotes and incorrectly imply the Premier requested 'Fast Track,'" the report says.

Checked into progress

On May 25, 2016, O'Brien emailed Gilman to ask if there was "any word" on the acceleration. Gilman then emailed a vice-president of the Crown corporation to say O'Brien was "after me — so need for tomorrow at latest."

MacPherson said it's reasonable to conclude the vice-president "interpreted" Gilman's email as pressure from Gallant's office, but she did not see "a strong indication of a high level of urgency" from O'Brien's email.

Serge Rouselle, minister responsible for Service New Brunswick, says Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs should apologize for accusing the premier of playing a part in hurrying up the new tax assessment system. (CBC)

Serge Rousselle, the minister responsible for Service New Brunswick, said Progressive Conservative Opposition leader Blaine Higgs should now apologize to Gallant for accusing the premier of wrongdoing before MacPherson's report was released.

Different interpretations

"There's not one person who has been interviewed who said the premier was involved," Rousselle said. "There's not even one document that shows that he asked for this fast-tracking process.
"Basically there's no piece of evidence whatsoever."

Higgs says he has no plans to apologize to the premier. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

Higgs said he thought there were still "gaps" in the communications between O'Brien and Gilman, and he would not apologize to Gallant.

"Forgive me if I don't necessarily believe what the premier and Minister Rousselle are espousing," he said.

"What she's saying is the communications were vague and from that she says 'I can't make a direct link.'"

MacPherson told reporters that she felt she had uncovered all there was to uncover in the case.

Government accepts recommendations

Rousselle said the government would listen to MacPherson's recommendation against creating a new independent agency to handle property assessments separately from Service New Brunswick.

MacPherson said given turmoil at the Crown corporation, including toxic relationships and a lack of leadership at the time of the fiasco, another reorganization would get in the way of fixing the assessment system.

She made other recommendations on how to improve the existing Service New Brunswick system and Rousselle said the province would adopt them.