Fred Dunn
Auditor General, Province of Alberta

While his federal counterpart Sheila Fraser has done much more barking in the media, Auditor General Fred Dunn has shown just as much bite as Alberta\'s public watchdog, sinking his fangs into allegations of staff harassment and unfairness in enforcement practices at the Alberta Securities Commission. The commission tried to block the chartered accountant\'s dogged probe into its activities, citing privacy concerns, but Court of Queen\'s Bench Justice Dennis Hart upheld Dunn\'s broad mandate to investigate the mess, which saw a high-level official with the regulator fired. Dunn, appointed to his post in June 2002, also made headlines in May 2005 by authoring a scathing 97-page report on the state of Alberta\'s care facilities for seniors. Dunn singled out the Alberta government for not providing enough caregivers for institutionalized elderly. A measure of Dunn\'s respect was how well the bluntly-worded report was received by Alberta\'s sometimes thin-skinned government. Both Health Minister Iris Evans and Seniors Minister Yvonne Fritz agreed with Dunn while Premier Ralph Klein publicly rebuked Transportation Minister Lyle Oberg for questioning whether an accountant could assess the quality of seniors care. - WG

Has media coverage about federal and provincial investigations created unrealistic expectations about the ability of auditors general to sniff out waste or find corruption?
Somewhat, because in my office, there are 130 full-time employees looking at 24 different ministries plus all the different boards and agencies. It is very difficult to look at everything and you\'ll often get people asking \'Why didn\'t you look at this earlier?\' The value that an auditor general can bring is making the recommendations that management implements. The biggest value that my office brings to the public is helping management avoid problems as opposed to reporting problems. That doesn\'t necessarily make great headlines for the media, but ensuring there is a well-organized, well-run public sector is the biggest value to the public.

Who do you think is the greatest Albertan ever?
To try to sit back and say who is the greatest of all, I\'m not sure that I can answer that. I have respect for our forefathers who developed this province, such as Alexander Rutherford. From a political side, I had a great deal of respect for what Peter Lougheed did for this province. From a religious or charitable point of view, I have a lot of respect for Monsignor William Irwin, who founded Catholic Social Services with just $5,000.

In 100 years, will you warrant your own chapter in the history books, a footnote to great events or a single Google hit?
I don\'t believe it is the role or responsibility of the Auditor General to create headlines. The value that we can bring to the public sector is when the recommendations that we make are accepted and implemented by management. It\'s not what we report that the media grabs and writes headlines. It\'s when are recommendations are accepted and the government makes changes, such as the report on senior\'s care. There are 130 people that work in this office to create that value, not a single person. During my tenure, I would hope my office would provide good value to the public. I would hope that I would be a passing footnote in the history of the office.