Sheila Fraser (born September 16, 1950) served as

Auditor General of Canada The Auditor General of Canada is an officer of the Parliament of Canada to aid accountability and oversight by conducting independent financial audits of federal government operations. These audits provide members of parliament with objective e ...

from 2001 to 2011.

Early life and education

Fraser was born in

Dundee, Quebec Dundee is a township municipality in Le Haut-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality in the Montérégie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. At the Canada 2021 Census, the population was 386. It is primarily an agricultural area consisting ...

, Canada to Kenneth Fraser (1917-2005), a Quebec

Member of the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

for

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

from 1966 to 1976. She earned a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

Desautels Faculty of Management The Desautels Faculty of Management is a faculty of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The faculty offers a range of undergraduate and graduate-level business programs, including the Bachelor of Commerce, Master of Business Adminis ...

in 1972. She then became a chartered accountant in 1974 and

FCA FCA may refer to: Arts * Federation of Canadian Artists * Foundation for Contemporary Art, in Ghana * Foundation for Contemporary Arts, in the United States Business and economics * False Claims Act, a United States federal law * Federal Cus ...

in 1994. In 1981, she worked for

Ernst and Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

where she worked on assignment to the

Auditor General An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations. Freq ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in some cases, and other

government offices.

Auditor General of Canada

In January 1999, she joined the Office of the

as Deputy

Audit An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...

Operations. She was subsequently appointed Auditor General in 2001. Her 10-year mandate as Auditor General ended on May 30, 2011. During her time in office, a

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

poll listed her as one of the top five most trusted Canadians. She made headlines across Canada when her report on the

sponsorship scandal The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006. T ...

rocked the country's political scene. She confirmed serious problems in the federal government's management of its Sponsorship Program for a four-year period beginning in 1997. In a few very troubling cases, sponsorship funds were transferred to

Crown corporations A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...

using what the Auditor General called "highly questionable methods." That is, they appeared to have been designed to pay significant commissions to communications agencies, while hiding the source of funding and the true nature of the transactions. Parliament and the parliamentary appropriations process were not respected. The Auditor General made the news again on November 26, 2006, with her report on the former ombudsman of federal inmates. The report made a series of allegations that the former ombudsman, Ron Stewart, had "often skipped work and collected $325,000 in improper or questionable salary, vacation pay and expenses during his 14-year tenure". The case is currently being reviewed by the RCMP to determine if criminal charges are warranted. During the week of January 18 to 22, 2010, Fraser visited

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

to observe the military and development progress of the Canadian mission there. She expressed concern for the fate of the projects and the training of Afghan police and military, after Canada is scheduled to leave in 2011. She gave her last

public speech Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

, on May 25, 2011, at the

Canadian Club of Ottawa Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

, entitled ''Serving Parliament Through a Decade of Change'', where she warned the government faces long-term fiscal pressures that will mean "very hard choices" between raising taxes or cutting programs and encouraged the government to publicize its long-term fiscal projections because "without them, we cannot begin to understand the scale and complexity of our financial challenges and the implication of policy choices.". Fraser also criticized the "truly shocking" lack of improvement on

First Nations reserves In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the ''Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Monarchy of Canada, Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benef ...

and also said "I actually think it's quite tragic when you see that there is a population in this country that does not have the sort of basic services that Canadians take for granted.". She also referred to the

Sponsorship scandal The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006. T ...

as "a pivotal event with a lasting impact" and "broke just about every rule in the book".

Other business positions

Fraser was appointed to the board of directors at

Manulife Manulife Financial Corporation (also known as Financière Manuvie in Quebec) is a Canadian multinational insurance company and financial services provider headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company operates in Canada and Asia as "Manulife" an ...

in November 2011.

Honours

Sheila Fraser received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Waterloo in October 2005.

Family

She is divorced and has three children. Her grandfather's cousin,

John Fraser John Fraser may refer to: Politics *John Simon Frederick Fraser (1765–1803), commanded the Fraser Fencibles in Ireland and was (M.P.) for Inverness-shire *John James Fraser (1829–1896), 5th Premier of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, 18 ...

, also served as Auditor General of Canada.

References

External links

Office of the Auditor General Website: About the Auditor General

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Sheila Canadian accountants Canadian civil servants 1950 births Living people McGill University Faculty of Management alumni People from Montérégie Anglophone Quebec people Government audit officials Canadian women business executives Canadian auditors Officers of the Order of Canada Women accountants Ernst & Young people