Nova Scotia's auditor general pondering personal services contracts probe

Nova Scotia's auditor general may be taking a closer look at the kind of jobs the premier's former chief of staff, Kirby McVicar, offered to Andrew Younger's wife in a secretly taped recording.

They are called personal services contracts and are meant to fill a short-term need by a government department or agency.

If the salary is less than $75,000 a year, a contract can be drawn up without approval outside the department. Contracts worth between $75,000 and $120,000 need the approval of a deputy minister of the Treasury Board. Cabinet needs to approve any contract worth more than that.

The premier hired the current deputy minister of the Office of Planning and Priorities on a personal services contract worth $180,000 a year. He's been in the job, normally held by a civil servant, since January 2014.

Nova Scotia's Auditor General Michael Pickup says recent news reports, as well as a request from a PC MLA about the contracts, have spurred his office to make preliminary inquiries.

"We are looking to gather information in terms of the extent of personal services contracts that exist," he said. "So basically, the dollar amount and how many there might be, and looking at it from potentially a value for money perspective in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency of these things."

He expects to make a decision by the end of January on whether the issue is worth a performance audit by his office.