CANADA AUDITS INDIAN RESERVE BOOKS AMID ALLEGATIONS.(MAIN)

Byline: Associated Press

TORONTO -- In the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta, a government-hired consulting firm decides how to spend millions in tax dollars to help an Indian reserve -- a task of tribal leaders until accusations mounted of fiscal abuse in native communities.

Auditors are checking the books of at least two Alberta tribes, and a taxpayers' lobby, Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is demanding an audit of spending for all 600 Indian reserves. In Parliament, the main opposition faction, the Reform Party, wants to take matters further, recommending all federal spending programs for aboriginals -- $4.5 billion a year -- be phased out.

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