{"id":200699,"date":"2019-02-03T21:54:40","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T02:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=200699"},"modified":"2019-02-03T21:54:40","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T02:54:40","slug":"auditor-general-michael-ferguson-remembered-as-passionate-fighter-for-accountability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/03\/auditor-general-michael-ferguson-remembered-as-passionate-fighter-for-accountability\/","title":{"rendered":"Auditor General Michael Ferguson remembered as ‘passionate fighter for accountability’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
erguson, who was appointed auditor general by then prime minister Stephen Harper in November 2011, gained widespread respect for his hard-hitting reports about government spending. (File Photo<\/a>: @OAG_BVG\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2014\u00a0Michael\u00a0Ferguson, Canada’s auditor general for the past seven years, died of cancer on Saturday at the age of 60.<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u00a0passed away in Ottawa surrounded by his wife, Georgina, and sons, Malcolm and Geoffrey, his office said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr.\u00a0Ferguson\u00a0will be remembered by all those who had the pleasure of knowing him as a humble, compassionate and thoughtful man,\u201d his office’s statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cared deeply about conducting audits that brought value to the public service, always for the greater good of Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson, who was appointed auditor general by then prime minister Stephen Harper in November 2011, gained widespread respect for his hard-hitting reports about government spending.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose own government has often been in\u00a0Ferguson’s crosshairs, said the New Brunswick native \u201cdevoted his life to public service,\u201d both in his home province and across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will remember him for his tireless dedication to promote a transparent, open government that is accountable to Canadians,\u201d Trudeau said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis important work over the past seven years … has helped strengthen our democracy and maintain the integrity that Canadians expect from our public institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u00a0had been undergoing treatment for cancer since last November, his office said, although a spokeswoman said he had not taken leave from his duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was still very much involved in the management of the office. This is actually quite sudden,\u201d said Francoise Guyot, the office’s director of external communications.<\/p>\n

Craig Scott, a university professor who also serves as an adviser to the auditor general, said he Saturday he was \u201cstunned\u201d by the news, adding he had met with\u00a0Ferguson\u00a0in November.<\/p>\n

Scott, who teaches international law at Toronto’s York University, said he was notified by\u00a0Ferguson’s office about a month ago that his cancer had returned in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew he was taking a little step back from work. He was doing a little bit of work at home,\u201d said Scott.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, we heard a few days ago that it had taken a turn for the worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last spring,\u00a0Ferguson\u00a0ripped the federal government for its treatment of Indigenous people, which he described as an \u201cincomprehensible failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus, the party’s critic for Indigenous youth, applauded\u00a0Ferguson\u00a0on Twitter, calling him a \u201cpassionate fighter for accountability in public life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis denunciation of the ‘incomprehensible failure’ of government in relation to First Nation kids wasn’t about numbers \u2014 it was a moral challenge,\u201d Angus tweeted on Saturday, adding that he was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by\u00a0Ferguson’s death.<\/p>\n

Prior to holding the federal post,\u00a0Ferguson\u00a0served a variety of roles in the New Brunswick government, including five years as the province’s auditor general.<\/p>\n

Federal opposition parties initially refused to endorse him for the job because he did not speak French, but he managed to learn the language over the years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014\u00a0Michael\u00a0Ferguson, Canada’s auditor general for the past seven years, died of cancer on Saturday at the age of 60. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":200705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}