An example of a good corporate citizen

General Forums Northern BC Forum
41

What the hell kind of bug do you have up your ass about the Prince Rupert Port Authority?? What are you trying to prove?? Sounds like you have an ax to grind. Get over yourself.

[quote=“Pantagruel”]Hi Port Authority Person

I have just used the Port Authority comment forum to send the following comment to the Port for action.

“I want to you put the last five years audited financial statements on your website. What you have been putting on your website is inadequate and complete lacks transparency. I have reviewed the websites of 11 other port authorities. 10 of the 11 publish complete financial statements. You are completely out of step with what is considered good corporate practise of a organization that is responsible to the citizens of Canada.”

I am not holding my breathe for a prompt response. After Christmas I will write the Board of the Port, the the NDP and yuLiberal parties of Canada, and the Port Programs Directorate of Transport Canada.

I will send the letters to the Board Members so that I know they actually get the letters. I suspect that their response is they will distance themselves from the staff decision to reduce access to the financial statements.

I fully expect that the two political parties will see the lack of the statements as a Stephen Harperesque type strategy to deny the public information that they should have ready access to.

The Ports Programs Directorate will probably not be pleased that they have been contacted about such a trivial matter that it should have been resolved locally. Bringing their attention to it, will only cause eyebrows to be raised about suitability of the leadership team of the Port.

I don’t know if you really believe what you are writing, Port Person, but telling me that the financial statements are readily available by saying that you can get the information if you ask for them, requires that I provide you with my identity. In Canada, despite the best efforts of a lot of people to reduce the flow of public information, we still don’t need to give you our names.[/quote]

42

You are certainly earning your pay, Michael.

43

They are trying to prove that under all of this something is being hidden from the public view

[quote=“Gracies Mom”]What the hell kind of bug do you have up your ass about the Prince Rupert Port Authority?? What are you trying to prove?? Sounds like you have an ax to grind. Get over yourself.

[quote=“Pantagruel”]Hi Port Authority Person

I have just used the Port Authority comment forum to send the following comment to the Port for action.

“I want to you put the last five years audited financial statements on your website. What you have been putting on your website is inadequate and complete lacks transparency. I have reviewed the websites of 11 other port authorities. 10 of the 11 publish complete financial statements. You are completely out of step with what is considered good corporate practise of a organization that is responsible to the citizens of Canada.”

I am not holding my breathe for a prompt response. After Christmas I will write the Board of the Port, the the NDP and yuLiberal parties of Canada, and the Port Programs Directorate of Transport Canada.

I will send the letters to the Board Members so that I know they actually get the letters. I suspect that their response is they will distance themselves from the staff decision to reduce access to the financial statements.

I fully expect that the two political parties will see the lack of the statements as a Stephen Harperesque type strategy to deny the public information that they should have ready access to.

The Ports Programs Directorate will probably not be pleased that they have been contacted about such a trivial matter that it should have been resolved locally. Bringing their attention to it, will only cause eyebrows to be raised about suitability of the leadership team of the Port.

I don’t know if you really believe what you are writing, Port Person, but telling me that the financial statements are readily available by saying that you can get the information if you ask for them, requires that I provide you with my identity. In Canada, despite the best efforts of a lot of people to reduce the flow of public information, we still don’t need to give you our names.[/quote]

[/quote]

44

[quote=“Speedy”]They are trying to prove that under all of this something is being hidden from the public view

[quote=“Gracies Mom”]What the hell kind of bug do you have up your ass about the Prince Rupert Port Authority?? What are you trying to prove?? Sounds like you have an ax to grind. Get over yourself.

[quote=“Pantagruel”]Hi Port Authority Person

I have just used the Port Authority comment forum to send the following comment to the Port for action.

“I want to you put the last five years audited financial statements on your website. What you have been putting on your website is inadequate and complete lacks transparency. I have reviewed the websites of 11 other port authorities. 10 of the 11 publish complete financial statements. You are completely out of step with what is considered good corporate practise of a organization that is responsible to the citizens of Canada.”

I am not holding my breathe for a prompt response. After Christmas I will write the Board of the Port, the the NDP and yuLiberal parties of Canada, and the Port Programs Directorate of Transport Canada.

I will send the letters to the Board Members so that I know they actually get the letters. I suspect that their response is they will distance themselves from the staff decision to reduce access to the financial statements.

I fully expect that the two political parties will see the lack of the statements as a Stephen Harperesque type strategy to deny the public information that they should have ready access to.

The Ports Programs Directorate will probably not be pleased that they have been contacted about such a trivial matter that it should have been resolved locally. Bringing their attention to it, will only cause eyebrows to be raised about suitability of the leadership team of the Port.

I don’t know if you really believe what you are writing, Port Person, but telling me that the financial statements are readily available by saying that you can get the information if you ask for them, requires that I provide you with my identity. In Canada, despite the best efforts of a lot of people to reduce the flow of public information, we still don’t need to give you our names.[/quote]

[/quote]

[/quote]

The excerpts from the financial statements shown on the Port’s site show the total assets, liabilities, and the value of the Crown’s equity, and an income statement that shows that the Port is very profitable. The complete financials would include Notes that among other things would show how much key personnel and directors are paid (one director is a municipal appointee). The examples of other Port authorities that Pantagruel has cited include that information in their complete financial statements.

How much public officials are paid can be a matter of public interest, especially provincially. In recent days, for instance, there have been questions about how much the Lottery Corporation pays in bonuses. A few years ago the local School Board came under some scrutiny for how much money it was paying out to certain officials/consultants. Many other examples could be cited.

That kind of information is public, but some public entities make it easier to access than others. These days SD#52 is very transparent in that regard, while the City buries the relevant annual report in an agenda package. I seem to recall that the Port used to provide its full financials online, including key personnel and director remuneration.

Perhaps the Port, which is no doubt very committed to transparency, will consider publishing the complete financial statements on its web site, rather than just excerpts, and let readers decide for themselves what is of interest.

45

[quote=“BTravenn”]
How much public officials are paid can be a matter of public interest, especially provincially. In recent days, for instance, there have been questions about how much the Lottery Corporation pays in bonuses. A few years ago the local School Board came under some scrutiny for how much money it was paying out to certain officials/consultants. Many other examples could be cited.

That kind of information is public, but some public entities make it easier to access than others. These days SD#52 is very transparent in that regard, while the City buries the relevant annual report in an agenda package. I seem to recall that the Port used to provide its full financials online, including key personnel and director remuneration.

Perhaps the Port, which is no doubt very committed to transparency, will consider publishing the complete financial statements on its web site, rather than just excerpts, and let readers decide for themselves what is of interest.[/quote]

EDIT: I see that the City, in addition to the complete audit, now makes its annual Statement of Financial Information more readily accessible on its revamped web site. The latter reports public official and key employee remuneration, payments to contractors, and sources of grants and contributions of public funds.
< princerupert.ca/sites/defaul … 13SOFI.pdf >

The School District has been making this more detailed information easily available for some time on its site, including a report on Executive Compensation:
< sd52.bc.ca/sd52root/content/ … disclosure >
< sd52.bc.ca/sd52root/content/ … nformation >

Northern Health is a bit of labyrinth because of its large service area, but it provides complete audited financials and also reports on board and employee remuneration and contractor payments: northernhealth.ca/AboutUs/No … ility.aspx

Hopefully the Port will publish its’ complete financial statements (rather than excerpts) online so that more detailed information is readily accessible, similar to what other public bodies, both locally and other port authorities, routinely report. I’m quite sure that is at least part of what Pantagruel is getting at.

That would leave CityWest as the only major local public body that is not committed to transparency and accountability. It originally published complete financials for its various subsidiaries (mobility, cable etc), then for several years published a consolidated statement, but for the last couple of years has opted to publish no financial statements.

It provides a list of non-profits that it has donated money to but without dollar amounts. Today it issued a media release, and a symbolic cheque suitable for a photo op, reporting a $400,000 ‘distribution’ to the City as the owner, which represents a 1.3% return on the City’s investment in the company.
< citywest.ca/about-us/in-the- … ty-support >

Hopefully, now that senior civic employees control the Citywest board, higher standards of financial transparency and accountability will be implemented in due course.

46

Yeah, a few posts on HTMF really shows he’s worth that big salary. I’d ask you to stop kissing Port butt but Terribleperson has his lips all over it already.

47

[quote=“drummerboy”]
Yeah, a few posts on HTMF really shows he’s worth that big salary. I’d ask you to stop kissing Port butt but Terribleperson has his lips all over it already.[/quote]

48

[quote=“Pantagruel”]Dear Port Person

I have been reading financial statements for over 30 years. Please do not try and explain to me that what the Port is posting on their website adequately provided the the whole financial story that is required by an Auditor in order to provide an audit opinon.

The point of my postings regarding your financial statements is that, what you are calling the “Consolidated Financial Statements” and which you post, are not the Audited Financial Statements. With the exception of one other port authority, all the rest of the ports posted their complete Audited Financial Statements. It is obvious the the Prince Rupert Port Authority is completely out of step regarding financial transparency and good practise.

Another minor point of the interest is that, as the Consolidate Statements are not the complete Audited Financial Statements, there is no Auditor’s assurance for the public that what has been posted is actually accurate and reflects the operations of the Port.

The Port is a creature of the Federal Government. I should not have to ask for a complete set of Audited Financial Statements. They should be readily available on your website. Frankly, the lack of complete statements, suggests to me that the Port is trying to hide something that they would prefer was not readily public.

The only way that you will be able to clear up my 'misconception" that the Port is trying to hide something that is in their Audited Financial Statements is to publish complete Audited Financial Statements on the Port website. So let’s see them. God knows you have enough people working in your IT department so that posting the complete audited statements would not be a particularly onerous or time consuming thing to do.[/quote]

Last December you commented that the Port had not published complete financial statements on its web site. Unlike other Port authorities it provided a redacted version that excluded among other things a report on remuneration paid to directors and senior officials, public disclosure of which is a statutory requirement. The full financials were apparently available only if a citizen sent a letter making that request.

Who knows whether you were heard or not, but I see that the Port has demonstrated good corporate citizenship by publishing on its web site the full, audited financial statements for 2014, < rupertport.com/documents/201 … ements/pdf >.

That now leaves Citywest as the only public owned entity that does not publish its financial statements. It used to make that information available on its web site, but the financials were removed a couple of years ago. Its financial statements are not secret or ‘private’. As a municipal corporation it has duties as disclosure just as the City does under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

It is furthermore required by the terms of its articles of incorporation to present financial statements at a public council meeting, although that detail is skipped at the annual review in favour of a narrative report. (There was a thread a few years ago on the details of Citywest’s incorporation documents and related duties.)

Perhaps the Mayor and council, all of whom have expressed commitments to greater transparency and openness, will get around to looking into this issue. Since the board is effectively controlled by City employees bringing about a change in disclosure practices should not be difficult to accomplish.