The provincial auditor is looking into whether proper procedures were followed when construction of an office building in Wascana Park was approved.
The park’s master plan allows for buildings for government, education and cultural purposes.
“We are actually working through the terms of developing those audit procedures, but we do recognize there is a relationship between the approval process and the master plan,” provincial auditor Judy Ferguson said.
Minister of the Provincial Capital Commission Ken Cheveldayoff says the building, owned by Brandt, fits the master plan because it includes a wellness centre.
“All of the processes have been followed, that the project was tendered and that the fact it complies with the master plan and that was done in 2016 by the Wascana Centre Authority,” Cheveldayoff said.
Regina mayor Michael Fougere was chair of the Wascana Centre Authority in 2016. He says the authority did not approve the project.
“The last meeting of the Wascana Centre Authority Board, which I chaired, we resolved to send this whole project back to the new capital commission for them to decide,” Fougere said.
The opposition NDP says the project should be put on hold until the auditor finishes her review.
“We should be stopping the Brandt project entirely and starting over,” NDP leader Ryan Meili said. “The way that this has been done has been done wrong from the beginning.”
The provincial auditor’s findings will be released at the end of the year.
