The auditor’s troubling message

Auditor General Michael Ferguson opened his fall report to Parliament with a message. It might more accurately be called a lament. In it he confirmed what many Canadians — perhaps most — have long suspected of the federal government, and governments in general: They don’t work very well. They are excellent at spending money — oh, no problem there — but very poor at getting value for that money, often because little or no effort is made to track whether the intended goal has been achieved.

Year after year, and even decade after decade, the same problems crop up. Ferguson is only halfway through his 10- year mandate, but already finds himself stumbling across issues he thought he had dealt with, but which remain unchanged. Even when the government — whether Conservative or Liberal — has been advised of a problem and is well aware of its existence, nothing happens. Discus- sions are held, plans formulated and directions issued. But the problem persists. Looking back to the years of his predecessor, Sheila Fraser, he notes that she struggled with the same conundrum: much talk, much spending, no change. At the close of his message he wonders gloomily whether he will find himself, at the end of his decade, confronted by the same concerns that were there when he started.

It is an enlightening, and extremely troubling message. It’s not encouraging that it sank almost immediately from public view, confined to the shelf where inconvenient dispatches are sent to be ignored until they die. It is accompanied by seven new reports in which Ferguson details shortcomings in government programs, including new border operations, the Canada Revenue Agency’s treatment of tax objections, and the handling of claims involving First Nations.

In each case he found serious failings. The border plan, which was supposed to enhance security while speeding the movement of goods across the border, has spent $585 million so far but lacks the indicators to measure whether it’s working. The revenue agency has a backlog of 170,000 complaints but can’t tell how long they’ve been waiting because it only starts keeping track once a file has been assigned to an appeals officer. Final results could take years. And the introduction in 2007 of a plan to speed up handling of native claims, Ferguson found, only resulted in further delays.

The underlying reason in all these cases is similar: government is slow, cautious, inefficient and unable to keep up. The civil service focuses on the process rather than the result. If a program is put in place and the money spent, it is considered a success. Whether it works or not is another matter, and often not even measured. Public servants can show that they received their orders from government, designed a response, put it into effect and consumed the budget, but they can’t show whether the end user, i. e. Canadians, received any benefit.

It could all be written off as an unfortunate farce — the stuff of situation comedies and late- night humour — if not for the debilitating effect it has on the country, the economy, and the lives of the Canadians who are meant to be served. Ferguson notes that Canada Revenue Agency took five years or more to resolve 79,000 cases worth almost $4 billion, which might otherwise have been used far more productively. The expenditure of billions on programs to address native problems that are doomed to failure because no one monitors their effectiveness only adds to the anger and resentment of aboriginal communities and the sense of hopelessness and cynicism it feeds in others — the shrugging suspicion that no amount of money is going to solve the problem, so why bother?

Most of all it encourages the contempt for government that has become epidemic across much of the western world. The Brexit vote, the election of Donald Trump, the struggles facing free trade and the rise of populist parties in much of Europe … all derive from the rampant sentiment among voters that their governments aren’t working, that they exist to serve themselves and that politicians are an out- of- touch elite bent on maintaining their perks and privileges while ordinary citizens are left to fend for themselves.

Canada is not immune from this virus of doubt and distrust. Ferguson offers the optimistic suggestion that “a new Parliament brings a fresh eye and the opportunity to ask questions about the public service that parliamentarians oversee.” Perhaps the Liberals will do better than previous governments.

Perhaps. They could begin by measuring results rather than hours spent pursuing bureaucratic pathways. And firing those who fail to produce.

Or they might just nod and confine Ferguson’s lament to the archive of unheeded warnings. Which, sadly, is the more likely response.

CANADA IS NOT IMMUNE FROM THIS VIRUS OF DOUBT AND DISTRUST.