Liberals begin flurry of government reforms as Nov. 1 sponsorship report looms
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OTTAWA (CP) - "World-class" audit and oversight system, or crass political smoke screen in advance of a looming government scandal?
Changes announced to the federal civil service Friday might just be both. With Justice John Gomery's fact-finding report on the sponsorship scandal due out in 10 days, Liberal cabinet ministers are claiming their new reforms mark a fundamental shift in Canadian governance. Opposition MPs are crying foul.
Ottawa will spend $40 million annually and hire up to 300 new auditors as it overhauls the way federal departments internally monitor their own programs, Treasury Board President Reg Alcock told a news conference.
Some 158 separate measures, with another 80 promised in coming days, "will be some of the most fundamental changes in the internal oversight that any government in the world has made," Alcock claimed.
"Prime Minister (Paul) Martin has set the bar very high for all of us."
The hyperbole and timing of the announcement, if not its substance, had Liberal opponents gagging.
"It's totally designed to pre-empt Gomery," said NDP veteran Ed Broadbent.
"The problem with the government has not been the lack of auditing. We've had good auditor general's reports in the past, including on matters relating to the Gomery inquiry . . . . The problem is to clean up the mess the auditors ultimately reveal."
Conservative MP Gary Lunn said that after 12 years in power, the Liberals have discovered accountability two weeks before Justice Gomery is to issue his Nov. 1 report.
"I think the saddest part of all of this is there is not one mention of any type of accountability from their political masters," said Lunn. "They are in this mode of blaming it on the civil servants."
Lunn said the reforms will only create "an enormous new bureaucracy."
Alcock, accompanied by Public Works Minister Scott Brison, insisted the changes are not about punishing or scapegoating bureaucrats.
"We view the public service as our partners in this," said Alcock.
Financial officers in the public service welcomed the new oversight.
Milt Isaacs, chair of the Association of Canadian Financial Officers, said that with government spending increasingly under scrutiny, the measures will go a long way towards restoring public confidence.
Alcock also got qualified support from the largest federal union.
"There's no job loss and no reclassification that we can see, so we're staying fairly neutral," John Gordon, executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said in an interview.
Alcock suggested the timing of the bureaucratic changes is a result of a request from Gomery's office, which wants reports from several federal departments on governance issues by Nov. 28.
But the inquiry has asked only for government input, not announcements, said a source.
Gomery is about to start work on his second report, due Feb. 1, which will recommend reforms to ensure a sponsorship-type scandal cannot occur again.
As far back as May 2002, Auditor General Sheila Fraser reported that senior officials at Public Works "broke just about every rule in the book" when handing out the ad contracts.
Fraser subsequently reported last February that up to $100 million of the $250 million spent on the sponsorship program to promote the federal government in Quebec went to ad firms for work of little or no value.
©The Canadian Press, 2005
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OTTAWA (CP) - "World-class" audit and oversight system, or crass political smoke screen in advance of a looming government scandal?
Changes announced to the federal civil service Friday might just be both. With Justice John Gomery's fact-finding report on the sponsorship scandal due out in 10 days, Liberal cabinet ministers are claiming their new reforms mark a fundamental shift in Canadian governance. Opposition MPs are crying foul.
Ottawa will spend $40 million annually and hire up to 300 new auditors as it overhauls the way federal departments internally monitor their own programs, Treasury Board President Reg Alcock told a news conference.
Some 158 separate measures, with another 80 promised in coming days, "will be some of the most fundamental changes in the internal oversight that any government in the world has made," Alcock claimed.
"Prime Minister (Paul) Martin has set the bar very high for all of us."
The hyperbole and timing of the announcement, if not its substance, had Liberal opponents gagging.
"It's totally designed to pre-empt Gomery," said NDP veteran Ed Broadbent.
"The problem with the government has not been the lack of auditing. We've had good auditor general's reports in the past, including on matters relating to the Gomery inquiry . . . . The problem is to clean up the mess the auditors ultimately reveal."
Conservative MP Gary Lunn said that after 12 years in power, the Liberals have discovered accountability two weeks before Justice Gomery is to issue his Nov. 1 report.
"I think the saddest part of all of this is there is not one mention of any type of accountability from their political masters," said Lunn. "They are in this mode of blaming it on the civil servants."
Lunn said the reforms will only create "an enormous new bureaucracy."
Alcock, accompanied by Public Works Minister Scott Brison, insisted the changes are not about punishing or scapegoating bureaucrats.
"We view the public service as our partners in this," said Alcock.
Financial officers in the public service welcomed the new oversight.
Milt Isaacs, chair of the Association of Canadian Financial Officers, said that with government spending increasingly under scrutiny, the measures will go a long way towards restoring public confidence.
Alcock also got qualified support from the largest federal union.
"There's no job loss and no reclassification that we can see, so we're staying fairly neutral," John Gordon, executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said in an interview.
Alcock suggested the timing of the bureaucratic changes is a result of a request from Gomery's office, which wants reports from several federal departments on governance issues by Nov. 28.
But the inquiry has asked only for government input, not announcements, said a source.
Gomery is about to start work on his second report, due Feb. 1, which will recommend reforms to ensure a sponsorship-type scandal cannot occur again.
As far back as May 2002, Auditor General Sheila Fraser reported that senior officials at Public Works "broke just about every rule in the book" when handing out the ad contracts.
Fraser subsequently reported last February that up to $100 million of the $250 million spent on the sponsorship program to promote the federal government in Quebec went to ad firms for work of little or no value.
©The Canadian Press, 2005
