Summary
In 2008 we performed an audit of the systems the then Department of Sustainable Resource Development used to manage the province’s sand and gravel resources. That department is now the Department of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.
We made five recommendations to the department in 2008. In 2010 we followed up on one recommendation relating to royalty rates for sand and gravel and concluded that the department had implemented this recommendation. In the current audit we followed up on the following:
- enforcement of reclamation obligations
- quantity of aggregate removed
- information management
Six years after we made the above recommendations, we have had to repeat two of them. The department has not implemented an effective process to carry out its responsibilities to enforce land reclamation obligations; nor has it verified aggregate removed by operators.
The department has developed an integrated system for capturing and consolidating information throughout the life of an aggregate holding to facilitate testing of operators’ compliance with their legal obligations.