Laurentian University recently underwent a checkup by the Ontario auditor general’s office, two years after the AG detailed in special reports the circumstances that led to the university’s 2021-2022 insolvency.
The April 2022 preliminary report on Laurentian University from then-Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk and the full November 2022 report concluded the university did not have to file for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (or CCAA).
Laurentian’s decision to undergo insolvency restructuring under the CCAA was unprecedented in the post-secondary sector, and has led to federal law recently being changed so that colleges and universities are now specifically banned from doing so.
Lysyk’s report included recommendations for the university, its board of governors and senate, as well as the Ministry of Colleges and Universities and the Office of the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario.
Laurentian University, under previous leadership, initially refused to provide privileged (confidential) information to Lysyk’s audit team, but did end up eventually having to hand over most of the requested documents.
Given the Ontario auditor general office’s recent followup visit to Laurentian, Sudbury.com requested an interview with the current Ontario auditor general, Shelley Spence. We were told she was not available for an interview, but her office issued a short written statement.
“As part of our normal processes, we are conducting a two-year follow-up on our 2022 Special Report on Laurentian University,” the statement reads. “While the work is ongoing, the follow-up report will be included in our 2024 annual report.”
The topic of the Ontario auditor general office’s May visit to Laurentian University came up during the June 28 meeting of the university’s board of governors.
“As a normal process for the Auditor General of Ontario, two years after the publication of their reports and recommendations, they actually come back on site and conduct a review and assessment of the progress made against those recommendations,” said Sylvie Lafontaine, Laurentian’s vice-president, finance and administration.
“So on May 22 and 23, the audit team of the auditor general of Ontario was on site conducting interviews and reviewing our progress report against each one of those recommendations.
“We will be expecting to see the published results of their assessment of our progress in their publication of their report in September.”
Lafontaine said Laurentian has been “fully committed” to implementing the auditor general’s recommendations, and said moving forward with the university’s transformation plan is a key component of that.
The university actually earmarked $8 million in its 2024-2025 budget to transform its operations, which includes the hiring of a lead transformation officer.
“We've certainly made substantive progress of working towards the implementations over these past two years and more to come in the implementation timeframe,” Lafontaine said.
Laurentian board of governors chair Vernon Cameron complemented Laurentian’s administration for their work over the past two years, since the AG reports were issued.
“All impressions that I've seen are that the visit went extremely well,” he said. “Obviously, the details of the report can't be disclosed until they finalize it for risk of changes. But I could I think safely say there were no negatives to the report,” he said. “It was all positive progress.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
