Six weeks before he leaves as British Columbia's auditor general, John Doyle has terminated four people from his office, including two senior staff members.

Terminated employees included Beverly Romeo-Beehler and Michael Macdonell, who were both assistant auditors general. Also gone are performance audit director Mike McStravick and a junior staff person.

A spokesperson in Doyle's office did not return The Tyee's call by publication time.

"It was quite a surprise," said Macdonell, reached by phone at his home. He said he had worked for the auditor general's office for 23 years and had been told April 11 the termination was part of an office restructuring. "It's a bit of a difficult topic and a bit of a difficult time."

A lawyer, Romeo-Beehler, was responsible for coordinating the office's legal services and innovation unit. She could not be reached.

McStravick's most recent work was on the audit team for the recent controversial report "An Audit of Carbon Neutral Government." Reached by phone, he confirmed that he'd been fired, but said he had no further comment.

Two weeks ago an all-party legislative committee appointed chartered accountant, Russ Jones, to act as auditor general until a permanent replacement for Doyle can be found.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Find him on Twitter or reach him here.