OTTAWA, May 1 (UPI) -- Canada's auditor general said Wednesday the prime minister is unable to explain why his government didn't spend more than $3 billion in anti-terrorism funds.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper ignored accusations from political critics little has been done in Canada's anti-terrorism initiative after Auditor General Michael Ferguson's revelation of the spending shortfall, Postmedia News reported.
Ferguson said the government was unclear on whether it had met anti-terrorism objectives of keeping terrorists out of Canada and preventing attacks.
Ferguson's auditors examined the Public Security and Anti- Terrorism Initiative, and discovered while from 2001 to 2009, approximately $12.9 billion was allocated to 35 agencies and departments to fund public security and anti-terrorism, only about $9.8 billion was actually spent on anti-terrorism activities -- a $3.1 billion discrepancy.
The government said no records were available to explain why the $3.1 billion hadn't been spent on anti-terrorism, Ferguson said.
"We didn't find anything that gave us cause for concern that the money was used in any way that it should not have been. It is, however, important for there to be a way for people to understand how this money was spent. And that summary reporting was not done," Ferguson said.
