In 1985, Ferguson started work as an auditor in New Brunswick's comptroller's office. He became the provincial comptroller from 2000 to 2005. From 2005 to 2010, he was the province's Auditor General. Prior to becoming Auditor General of Canada, he served as Deputy Minister of Finance for the province of New Brunswick. The report covered six audits of various
Government of Canada operations and procurements, each contained within a separate chapter of the report: • Chapter 1 – Border Controls on Commercial Imports • Chapter 2 – Replacing Canada’s Fighter Jets • Chapter 3 – Interest-bearing Debt • Chapter 4 – Non-filers and non-registrants – Canada Revenue Agency • Chapter 5 – Oversight of Civil Aviation – Transport Canada • Chapter 6 – Special Examinations of Crown Corporations – 2011 The report also included an appendix report of the President of the Treasury Boards’ Annual Report to Parliament on the Tabling of Crown Corporations’ Reports 2011.
Chapter 2 of the 2012 spring report ignited controversy for the Conservative government by revealing the process to procure 65
F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters for the
RCAF was troubled by several irregularities. On April 5, 2012, Ferguson revealed the government likely knew prior to the May 2011
General Election that the $16 billion final price tag to purchase and maintain the jets was $10 billion under budget. The report and subsequent revelation prompted the opposition
NDP to call for Defence Minister
Peter Mackay's resignation. ==References==