Auditor General issues another “wake up call”, government still snoozin’
Ottawa - Thursday, October 10, 2002 - by: Walter Robinson, Federal Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Status Report	The Auditor General can issue up to four reports annually showing where Canadians receive value for their tax dollars … and where we don’t. Customarily, the Auditor General has only issued three reports a year. So it is refreshing that the Auditor General has now decided to use her fourth report opportunity to issue an annual “Status Report” on previous audits conducted by her office.
waste	This report, tabled yesterday in the House of Commons, was originally scheduled to be released on September 26th but with the prorogation of the House and a new Throne Speech, it was delayed by three weeks. And no wonder, it was another damning indictment of waste and mismanagement within key areas of the federal public service.
pace too slow	Of course, the real blame here must be laid at the doorstep of the federal government and its political leadership. This is not the first time that officials have been made aware of various problems. As Auditor General Sheila Fraser noted:
	“This is a wake-up call for departments. They recognize what needs to be done, and they have made some improvements. But overall, the pace is too slow and the results often fall short.”
failing grades	No kidding! In five separate chapters, four separate government departments (Human Resources Development Corporation, Health Canada, National Defence and Industry Canada) all receiving failing grades for their incompetence in correcting shortcomings identified in previous audits.
social insurance numbers	Take Human Resources Development Corporation for example and its management (or lack thereof) of the social insurance number regime. Back in December 1998, Chapter 16 of the Auditor General’s report found that there were over four million more social insurance numbers in circulation than there were adults over 20 years of age. Under fierce opposition questioning in the House of Commons, Pierre Pettigrew, then the Human Resources Development Corporation minister said,
	“we are following up on the recommendations of the Auditor General.”
	Of course the recommendation was to fix the problem.
5,000,000	Then yesterday the Auditor General found in Chapter 1 of her Status Report – returning to the progress made since the 1998 audit – that, wait for it,
	“the number of usable SINs for people over 20 exceeds the actual population in that age group by 5 million.”
unused services	But it gets worse. Chapter 27 of the Auditor General’s report in November 1999 found that National Defence had
	“difficulty forecasting the level of training required and, as a result, it is paying for services and capacity it is not using.”
$11,000,000 Bombardier	This audit went on to note that National Defence’s flight training at Portage-la-Prairie, Manitoba, had seen payments for unused capacity of approximately $11 million go to none other than Bombardier as part of a $165 million multi-year contract signed back in 1991.
$65,000,000	Fast-forward to Chapter 5 of yesterday’s report and the same type of problem was identified again. This time some $65 million has been shelled out for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation pilot training – under a 20-year $2.8 billion deal – training that has not occurred.
good government	These are just two examples of the waste and mismanagement that the Auditor General continues to uncover. Worse still, the Prime Minister continues to profess that he and his party are offering Canadians “good government.” Please, spare us!
	Walter Robinson Federal Director
Retrun to Ensign - Return to Saskatchewan News   This page is a story posted on Ensign and/or Saskatchewan News, both of which are daily web sites offering a variety of material from scenic images, political commentary, information and news. These publications are the work of Faster Than Light Communications . If you would like to comment on this story or you wish to contact the editor of these sites please send us email.   Editor : Timothy W. Shire Faster Than Light Communication Box 1776, Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada, S0E 1T0 306 873 2004