Halifax-Chebucto MLA Howard Epstein thinks the auditor general overstepped his bounds in offering economic and policy advice to government.

Epstein, the ranking NDP member at Wednesday’s public-accounts meeting, offered Jacques Lapointe a 35-minute lecture on a wide array of topics, from the causes of the world economic crisis to what’s likely to happen with interest rates.

At issue was a report delivered to the committee on the province’s financial situation on Wednesday, where Lapointe offered commentary on the challenges presented by long-term provincial debt.

“I think the auditor general strayed away from his original function of looking at the books of the province in order to give us auditing advice and moved himself really into the thick of economics and policy and political questions,” Epstein said outside the committee. “(Lapointe) is not an economist and really tried to give us economic advice, and that was inappropriate.”

Finance Minister Graham Steele was slightly more diplomatic in his reaction to the report.

Steele said the government’s commitment is not to pay off the $12.8-billion debt, but rather to see a steady decrease in the debt-to-GDP ratio, which he called a more reasonable measure of financial health.