Federal watchdog rebukes Ottawa
Scathing review blasts government for having lost sight of the people it serves
OTTAWA— A federal watchdog has issued a damning indictment of how Ottawa works, painting government as slow-moving, self-serving and blind to the needs of Canadians.
On a day when his office released blistering reports on everything from military recruiting to vehicle safety and tax policy, auditor general Michael Ferguson stepped back and issued a rare, broader criticism of government as a whole.
In short, Ottawa has lost sight of the people it is supposed to serve, he said.
“Over the years, our audit work has revealed government’s lack of focus on end-users, Canadians,” Ferguson said in his report, titled “Message from the Auditor General.”
He said the audit findings released Tuesday make his point: government boasts of a border strategy with no evidence to show that the measures enhanced security or improved travel; a process to settle First Nations claims that has only worsened the situation; and foot-dragging by Canada Revenue Agency to resolve taxpayer complaints.
“In an age of instant communications, Canadians expect quick results, while governments are often stuck using old, slow approaches that fail to meet expectations,” Ferguson wrote.
Like his predecessor, Sheila Fraser, Ferguson singled out Ottawa’s dealings with First Nations as a source of real frustration. As she left office, Fraser said the disparity between First Nations and other Canadians was unacceptable. Yet five years later — and more audit reports — Ferguson said there has been little improvement.
“When you don’t see a lot of progress on those types of files, it is frus- trating,” he told a news conference.
Ferguson said he picked this moment — at the midpoint of his mandate and early in the life of the Liberal government — to speak out in hope of persuading politicians and bureaucrats to change their ways.
“Is it going to be any different this time? All I can do I guess is lay down the challenge . . . these programs need to be better managed,” he told reporters.
He suggested that Ottawa had fallen into a well-practised routine of critical audit reports, followed by well-meaning political pledges to do better — all of it to no end.
“Our audits come across these same problems in different organizations time and time again,” Ferguson said in his report. Even more concerning is when auditors return to the same area and find there has been no change since the last audit, he said.
He took aim at programs that are measuring “what civil servants are doing rather than how well Canadians are being served.” He cited the case of regulatory bodies that cannot keep up with the industries they police and government reports to the public that are unreliable, incomplete or misleading. And he said that bureaucrats seem more focused on the process, rather than results. “The government departments need to find a way to design their services so that they actually meet the needs of citizens,” Ferguson said.
On Parliament Hill, Treasury Board President Scott Brison said Ferguson’s message had been heard, adding that the Liberal government was already moving to improve the way it delivers services and evaluates programs.
“Delivery times are too long. Data is incomplete, and public reporting does not provide a clear picture of what departments have done. These recurrent problems have created a lot of frustrations for citizens,” Brison said.