Audit won’t decide if Pan Am execs get $5.7 million in bonuses

TORONTO – Ontario’s auditor general will conduct a financial audit of the Pan Am Games in Toronto, but will not determine if executives should split $5.7 million in bonuses.

Deputy Progressive Conservative leader Steve Clark asked for a value-for-money audit, and wanted Pan Am officials to wait for the results before cutting cheques to more than 50 executives with the TO2015 organizing committee.

But Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk told the public accounts committee her financial audit would not determine who should get a bonus, but would provide the facts in order for others to make the decision.

Clark says he’s disappointed the “extravagant” bonuses won’t be dependent on the audit, and says they should not be paid until all the financial details from the summer Games are known.

Sport Minister Michael Coteau has said there was a $56 million surplus in the infrastructure costs for all the new facilities built for the Games, and he expects there will be a surplus on the operations side as well.

Clark says the audit will at least provide taxpayers with the actual cost of the Pan Am Games — estimated at $2.4 billion.

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