Quebec's racetracks misspent public money: auditor

Quebec's defunct horse racing corporation spent more than a million dollars on employee meals, one of several questionable expenditures documented in a blistering report issued by the province's auditor general onTuesday.

The reportsays there weremillions of dollars in improper raises, bonuses and car expenses claimed by executives at the former Crown corporation between 1999 and 2005. At that time,the province was forking over emergency funds to help the organization weather a tough financial period.

Quebec invested about $260 million in the horse race corporation, known as SONACC, before the agency was privatized in 2005.

Auditor general Renaud Lachance said he has never encountered this degree of mismanagement in any Crown corporation.

"There [are] pages and pages about some questionable and unacceptable practices," he said Tuesday after releasing the report.

The irregularities documented include:

• Free meals for employees and managers at Montreal's Hippodrome worth $1.1 million.
• $740,000 in expenses claimed by 14 SONACCmanagers and executives even though half of those claims were unjustifiable.
• $20,000 annual car allowances for five senior executives.
• A signing bonus of $82,500 for one executive who was later hired by SONACC as a consultant and paid twice, for a total of $300,000.

Lachance said the former executives should repaythe money.

"I am asking the government and the authorities to be repaid for some amounts that were improperly paid to directors and officers of SONACC."

Mario Dumont, the leader of l'Action Démocratique du Québec, insisted Tuesday that the provincial government take steps to make sure that happens.

The Quebec government said it will weigh its options, but pointed out thatany irregularities occurred under the watch of theParti Québécois, when former premier Bernard Landry was finance minister.

PQ finance critic François Legault said the auditor's report did not allude to any political interference in SONACC's spending. "The police should do its job, and the government should do its job, that's what we say. We have nobody to protect."

Lachance said he has no plans to hand over his report to police, but expects authorities to assist the province in recouping the money.

Until 2005, the racing agency, known as SONACC, managed four hippodromes in Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Quebec City and Gatineau.

The Quebec government privatized the racing agency in 2005. The centres were taken over by Quebec company "Attractions hippiques," owned by Senator Paul Massicotte.