Canada's auditor general has agreed to review the highly-criticized Nutrition North Canada food program.

Michael Ferguson sent a letter to six NDP MPs this week, including Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington.

The letter informed them his office will conduct a performance audit of the program, to be completed by the fall of 2014.

A performance audit looks into whether programs are being run with "due regard for economy, efficiency, and environmental impact,” according to the auditor general's website.

It also questions whether the government has the means in place to measure their effectiveness.

The auditor general's decision comes after the six MPs wrote a letter asking that the program be audited.

"I think there is a growing sense that the program may not be doing what they want, and there may be reasons behind that,” Bevington said today.

"I think the auditor general is in a good position to look into that.”

The legislatures of all three territories have passed unanimous motions asking that the program be reviewed.

The Nutrition North Canada subsidy was launched in April 2011, replacing the old Food Mail program.

Unlike the previous program, which subsidized the cost of shipping food north, Nutrition North subsidizes the cost of selling food to northerners.

Old Crow is the only Yukon community participating in the program.

Darius Elias, the Yukon Party MLA for Vuntut Gwitchin, has repeatedly called for the federal government to change the model that is being used.

Today, he told the Star he is pleased the auditor general is getting involved.

Elias described buying a Christmas dinner last year for a single mother and her family in his constituency.

"It was 110 per cent more,” he said of the cost difference between the two programs.

Elias, who met with the assistant auditor general last year, said he hopes the upcoming audit will include a comparative analysis between the two.

"Expectations are high within the community when it comes to this audit,” he said.

"When the auditor general completes an audit, recommendations are made to the government. People are going to expect the program to get better, not worse.”

Elias said there are unique issues to be considered, especially when it comes to Old Crow, a fly-in community 1,000 kilometres north of Whitehorse.

Under the Food Mail program, Air North received a subsidy to transport food purchased from Whitehorse stores to residents.

"My constituents were able to come to the capital city of Whitehorse and shop wherever they wanted,” he said. In Old Crow, there is only one store.

Elias, who left the Liberals to sit as an independent before moving to the Yukon Party recently, praised Premier Darrell Pasloski and politicians of all stripes for supporting improvements to the program.

"I am thankful for the support from across the country.”

Bevington said residents in some communities in the Northwest Territories have organized protests against Nutrition North.

He believes there was a "crisis in the cost of living in the North,” especially in communities like Old Crow which rely on air freight for their supplies.

The MP said he hopes the audit will also consider whether the program is properly funded to meet expectations.

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