Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waits for a meeting of the special committee on the COVID-19 pandemic to begin, as efforts continue to help slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada May 13, 2020.BLAIR GABLE/Reuters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tapped Karen Hogan to be Canada’s next auditor-general.
Ms. Hogan is currently assistant auditor-general and has worked in that office since 2006.
She is to be a permanent replacement for Michael Ferguson, who died in February, 2019.
Mr. Ferguson’s deputy, Sylvain Ricard, has been filling in as interim auditor-general since then.
Ms. Hogan’s nomination must be approved by a resolution in both the House of Commons and the Senate.
The auditor-general is an independent officer of Parliament who is expected to conduct impartial audits of federal programs and spending.
Should her nomination be approved, Ms. Hogan will face the daunting task of scrutinizing some $150-billion worth of emergency aid the Trudeau government has hastily thrown together to help Canadians weather the economic devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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