Atlantic Canada’s auditors general say that while the Atlantic Lottery Corporation has fully implemented recommendations from a stinging 2016 audit, the four shareholder governments have been slow to respond.

A followup report released today says the governments have completed just 22 per cent of the actions recommended and in particular have failed on two key points.

They have not taken steps to ensure corporation board members are not elected officials or government employees, and they have not made other public servants on the board non-voting, ex-officio members.

The auditors say failure to implement these recommendations risks impeding the board’s fiduciary duty to the corporation and its “overall effectiveness in providing sound governance.”

Further, they say a failure to implement five additional recommendations from 2016 may hinder the corporation’s effectiveness in making timely business decisions and the ability of the provinces to evaluate the corporation’s performance and future sustainability.

The auditors say they are pleased that all 16 recommendations made to the corporation’s board and management were implemented following the October 2016 report that found it spent thousands of dollars on lavish dinners and Christmas parties, boosted executive salaries and handed out generous perks to politicians.

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