Performance audits for 2025 and earlier ‘highlight common problems,’ says France Lessard
In her latest report on performance audits for the 2025 operations of the City of Laval, municipal auditor general France Lessard draws attention to “common problems” in the city’s departments and services, including planning, accountability and governance.
The latest annual report by Lessard was tabled at the August city council earlier this month.
In it, she presents, among other things, the results of three performance audits, an audit of the City of Laval’s consolidated financial statements, and a follow-up to recommendations concerning her 2021-2024 annual reports.
Issues to be addressed
“The performance audits conducted in 2025 or in previous years highlight common problems, particularly regarding the quality of asset data, the updating of master and strategic plans and accountability and governance,” Lessard stated during a briefing for journalists a few days after council received the report.
“In a context where the city will have to prioritize its investments and ensure the sustainability of its assets, these issues will need to be addressed through structural actions, relevant indicators and strengthened governance,” she added.
Lessard’s first audit concerned library planning. Although the City of Laval adopted a 2020-2036 library master plan and a 2021-2025 strategic plan, the audit suggested several shortcomings in the planning process.
According to Lessard, the master plan was primarily focused on infrastructure and did not adequately integrate financial, human and documentary resources.
She also said the lack of performance indicators, measurable results and a formal accountability mechanism limited city council’s ability to monitor progress toward objectives.
Governance and management
Lessard’s second audit focused on the governance and management of asset maintenance programs in buildings, parks and public spaces. For the period 2025-2027, the city’s Buildings, Parks and Public Spaces Service (SIPEP) was responsible for administering a budget of over $98.6 million, of which $52.2 million was allocated to these programs.
Her audit revealed that despite the existence of oversight mechanisms, SIPEP had not fully embraced the requirements and did not systematically use the tools at its disposal. This situation, she maintained, prevented SIPEP from accurately assessing the maintenance deficit of its assets, measuring the impact of investments made and determining actual long-term needs.
According to Lessard, project selection and planning were also not based on a comprehensive vision or a sufficiently robust and transparent methodology. Finally, the accountability mechanisms provided for in the governance framework adopted in 2022 were not being fully implemented, she added.
Limitations to reporting
Apart from the financial monitoring of the city’s three-year capital asset program and certain specific obligations, she noted that no complete annual report makes allowance for the tracking of completed, delayed or cancelled projects, nor for demonstrating their contribution to reducing the asset maintenance deficit.
Lessard’s third audit focused on the awarding and management of contracts for the city’s digital projects. Her investigation revealed that outlined needs were generally well-defined for the IT solutions acquisition contracts examined, but that the justification for the time and resource estimates in the framework contracts for professional services was poorly supported.
Furthermore, some shortcomings were observed in the market analysis or analysis of available options. For these framework contracts, according to Lessard, monitoring compliance with hourly rates and authorized amounts proved sometimes to be inadequate, with some suppliers continuing their work without formal renewal of their mandates.
A quality control issue
The audit also highlighted variable and poorly structured coaching of external consultants. For fixed-price contracts, she said quality control and approval of deliverables were not always documented before payment.
Lessard, as the city’s internal chief auditor, jointly with Deloitte, the City of Laval’s external auditor, issued an unqualified opinion on the city’s consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2025.
Lessard said that the implementation rate of recommendations, calculated during the fourth year following the filing of the audit reports, remained high, at 89 per cent for the audits of the 2021 annual report, compared to 98 per cent for those of the 2020 annual report, including recognition of satisfactory progress.
Recommendations ‘on track’
“The administration is on track to implement the majority of the recommendations,” she said, while adding, however, that the city will need to keep up its efforts to complete the recommended actions “and achieve the expected results.”
Lessard said that for the period from January 1 to December 31 in 2024, 70 entities received a grant exceeding $100,000 (64 entities in 2023). The amounts paid by the city totaled $21,500,735 ($17,732,869 in 2023). Of these, six were not compliant because they had not submitted audited financial statements.
To better assess the impact of actions undertaken by the city, Lessard said her office will continue monitoring the recommendations related to the audit of the long-term investment planning and the three-year capital works program for two additional years.
