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Northern Ontario

Following court ruling, Laurentian University cooperating with auditor general's office

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Laurentian now cooperating with auditor Provincial politicians are getting documents from Laurentian University the auditor general has been asking for as part of her audit.

Provincial politicians say they are making progress getting missing documents the auditor general had been looking for as part of her forensic audit into the insolvency at Laurentian University.

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts met for the first time Wednesday since asking the Ontario legislature in December to issue a speaker's warrant to Laurentian demanding the documents be turned over to Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk.

At the time, committee members told the legislature the school was being uncooperative and was withholding vital documents needed to investigate its insolvency.

Specifically, LU argued it was not required to hand over documents covered by solicitor-client privilege. But a judge ruled last month the university must comply with the warrant.

On Wednesday, Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas said they are now only missing a handful of the documents they requested and she's optimistic they will soon have answers.

"Collaborations with the board has changed night and day -- it is way better," Gélinas said.

"They are trying really hard. We could see the work they have done to get us the information and for the first time I can say we share the same end goal, that they want to shed a light on what happened at Laurentian, from 2010 all the way to today, that brought us to the disaster that we are in right now."

Gélinas said she's hopeful they could have a report ready for interested parties in the coming months.