Project Nova probe to be ‘one of the largest audits we’ve ever done’: AG

The province’s auditor general says he expects the upcoming probe of Manitoba Public Insurance’s failed Project Nova to offer lessons for future implementations of computer systems at Crown corporations.

Tyson Shtykalo says while he can’t predict what revelations the expected year-long audit will root out, nor what recommendations will come from the results, he does know one thing.

“This is probably one of the largest audits we’ve ever done, in terms of public interest,” Shtykalo said on Thursday.

“The goal is, when we’re done, there will be a bunch of recommendations and lessons learned applicable to other projects of MPI and other Crown corporations … We’ll be reporting findings to the government and MPI. Everything will be vetted and shared and then a public report will be prepared.

“There has been a lot of interest in this project. Now, we’ll have to do our job and start digging.”

The Auditor General Act gives the office the same power to subpoena people as a commissioner during a public inquiry.

“The auditor general has extensive and broad powers and we can draw on them as needed,” Shtykalo said, declining to comment on who he will ask to speak with auditors.

It means former CEO Eric Herbelin — on whose watch Project Nova was initiated, began to see its cost estimates balloon and implementation time pushed back before he was fired by the MPI board in 2023 — could be compelled to speak as part of the audit.

Peggy Barker, a member of the board of the Consumers’ Association of Canada (Manitoba), the organization that originally asked in May for the auditor general to take on the file, said its representatives are already scheduled to meet with Shtykalo next week.

“We’re really pleased both (Finance) Minister (Adrian) Sala and the Auditor General have taken note of this,” Barker said. “We are definitely really pleased the auditor general is becoming involved in this.

“They have listened to us.”

News of the audit also had NDP government and opposition party members taking shots at each other Thursday.

Matt Wiebe, minister responsible for MPI, said the audit “is about getting answers for Manitobans.”

“We know Nova was allowed to get out of control by the previous (Progressive Conservative) government. We have an idea of some of the mismanagement which led to the issues with Nova, but there’s a lot more we know Manitobans need to know and that’s why we’ve asked the auditor to step in. Manitobans deserve answers.”

Wiebe said he, too, expects the audit’s recommendations will help government in future. “I would suggest, across government, when we’re talking about big IT projects, it is important to understand what went wrong.”

Wayne Balcaen, Tory critic for MPI, said the province’s neglect of MPI’s outdated computer system actually began under the former Doer and Selinger NDP governments.

While Balcaen admits Project Nova was launched by a Tory government, “the probe, or the look by the auditor general, is something that I completely agree with. There’s absolutely nothing to hide here,” he said.

“Project Nova was recommended in about 2020, with the idea to bring MPI into the 21st century. It had suffered stagnation during about 15 years at that time, neglect by any new technology or of any technological needs, by the NDP government that was in charge.”

Balcaen said it made sense then and it makes sense now for MPI to have an up-to-date computer system.

“We’re having people giving their financial information and records information … People really needed to have trust in the system and MPI needed to bring their services up to what’s expected (in tech) in 2025.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca