Sustainable Development Commissioner, Mr. Jean Cinq-Mars, presents the conclusions of his audit concerning the national parks and the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec - Press Release no. 4

QUÉBEC, June 3, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - The Auditor General of Québec, Ms. Guylaine Leclerc, makes public the Report of the Sustainable Development Commissioner (Spring 2015). Chapter 4 makes known the results from work carried out at the Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs (MFFP) and at the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (SEPAQ).

The MFFP's framework documents concerning the conservation of national parks' natural heritage are outdated. The policy on national parks was adopted in 1982 and no longer really reflects reality. Moreover, the master plan required for each park is sometimes nonexistent or not finalized. The completed plans, for their part, are on average 20 years old. In addition, the Department has not carried on its participation on the advisory committee of each of the parks. Given these deficiencies, it is difficult for the Department to know the state of conservation in parks.

The SEPAQ has defined and structured actions related to the conservation of natural heritage in the parks it operates, but these actions could be improved. It has established a conservation strategy, a conservation plan for each park and an ecological integrity monitoring program. However, it does not have a complete overview of the progress made for each action mentioned in the conservation plans. For ecological integrity monitoring, the committee in charge of studying the validity and relevance of indicators has not reviewed those issues in light of the first results published in 2014.

The information published on the conservation of natural heritage in national parks is incomplete. The Department does not officially issue any reporting on the parks' conservation of natural heritage. Moreover, SEPAQ's reporting does not allow the assessment of what remains to be accomplished in parks.

The SEPAQ's board of directors fulfills the main functions as set out in law. However, it should pay closer attention to ecological integrity monitoring and to the contract awarding process.

Regarding contract awarding, the SEPAQ generally follows a transparent and fair process. The Société has on occasion derogated from its established awarding process or recognized sound practices. Furthermore, the clauses in its policy concerning unsolicited proposals, the exclusive use of Québec suppliers and the special authorizations are not sufficiently specific.

The Highlights are available at www.vgq.qc.ca. The full report is only available in French.

Source:	Lucie Roy, Director
	Cabinet, communications et affaires stratégiques
	Auditor General of Québec
	Tel.: [phone]

SOURCE Vérificateur Général du Québec

Lucie Roy, Director, Cabinet, communications et affaires stratégiques, Auditor General of Québec, Tel.: [phone]