Quote:
Originally Posted by IliketoPuck
I'm only halfway through so far. But this is a pretty damning indictment on the governance structure of a $1.3Bn organization.
Update:
Having finished the report, I'm really surprised that the governance structure is as loose as indicated. This is clearly an inherited problem, but an extremely concerning one, and I'm really disconcerted that such a serious gap has been allowed to exist for so long in one of the largest boards in the country.
So while it isn't something that the current trustees necessarily created, it is certainly something that they are responsible for improving upon, and at a minimum, not exacerbating. It appears that the focus of the trustees when confronted with potential issues was not to tackle them and improve, but instead to become almost tribal in their defense of the kingdom.
Lack of sophisticated financial budgeting and board infighting in the midst of an economic shock....the CBE was swimming without shorts when the tide went out.
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So I read this report, and I should say didn't go through this with a fine-toothed comb. In all honesty, it wasn't quite the train wreck I had expected. There are at least a couple points where Grant Thornton notes that the CBE is in the upper echelon as far as efficiency goes. That sounds like a rather stark contrast to what I would have expected from the Education Ministers comments.
The worst piece of this is the governance portion. And yeah...it's not good, but it almost seems like they've managed to meet a reasonable bar in the other areas despite that?
And the building is just an easy target at this point. The plans were made in 2006, occupancy in 2011 and clearly it just looks like a horrible idea in hindsight. I was opposed to that deal back in 2010, but let's be fair...2014 and beyond haven't exactly helped make the lease payment look favourable! It's great to say "you should just sublet some space and reduce costs", but I don't know how realistic that is these days. People have probably noticed that there are a few vacancies in downtown Calgary these days.