“The greatest confusion is caused when people argue over different numbers. –Winston Churchill
At the start of the pandemic, the Quebec government was unable to identify the number of COVID-19 outbreaks in CHSLDs. We started from afar, with data transmitted by fax. Since then, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, an accountant by training, has introduced dashboards. This change in culture is encouraging. We feel that Minister Dubé is trying to provide better service to citizens by measuring and quantifying it. The fact that Prime Minister Legault is also an accountant is no stranger to this culture of results.
Last week, the Auditor General (AG) of Canada released a report on the Trudeau government’s feminist policy on international assistance. She concluded that the methods used to track project progress had significant shortcomings: 24 of the 26 monitoring indicators did not measure results. It was therefore impossible for the department to demonstrate that women and girls benefit from programs funded by Canada and therefore that these investments are useful.
The deficiency in information management practices was flagged in a departmental audit in 2021. In summary, the Trudeau government fails to account for the $3.5 billion paid annually under this policy since 2017 International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan replied that it is Canada’s partners who have the information. Not very convincing as a defense. The minister signs the checks for the photo, but does not take offense at not receiving a report.
On March 21, journalist Romain Schué informed us that Immigration Canada was unable to say whether nearly 52,000 rejected asylum seekers had indeed left the country. There is no departure register, no verification, and no one seems to be worried about this lack of data in the government.
These two examples, dating from March only, are not anecdotal. Our governments have a serious data problem. How can you make good decisions when you don’t have all the information or can’t rely on reliable data?
At the federal level, the AG concluded in a 2022 report that overpayments totaling $4.6 billion had been overpaid under the various aid programs during the pandemic, and that at least $27.4 billion additional dollars needed to be thoroughly investigated. It was urgent to act, the Trudeau government had estimated in 2020-2021, promising to do the checks later. He must now try to recover these overpaid billions. 825,000 notices of redetermination were sent by the Canada Revenue Agency.
Undemonstrable progress
This same government has just expanded the dental care program, initially intended for children under 12, to $13 billion over five years. This is one of the key measures of his last budget. Before it was tabled, the Parliamentary Budget Officer had already sounded the alarm, because the program is based on a request for reimbursement when making an appointment, without proof to be provided. And the benefit of $650 is paid in full, regardless of the amount actually billed.
In 2016, the Trudeau government launched Investing in Canada, a $180 billion plan over twelve years. In 2021, the AG concluded that Infrastructure Canada had failed to provide satisfactory reports on the progress of this plan, that the data was often inconsistent, was incomplete, inconsistent and that the funds granted were not disbursed. at the scheduled times. No organization was monitoring the effects of rolling over these unused funds. It concluded that the government could not demonstrate that the plan was on track to achieve its objectives and expected results.
We will have to wait until June 2023 to find out what is happening at the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB). By law, a legislative review must take place every five years. We remember that the CIB was created in 2017 by the Trudeau government, with a capital of 35 billion dollars, to support Invest in Canada, under the recommendation of former consultants from the firm McKinsey.
Prime Minister Harper’s last budget in 2015 included spending in the order of $290 billion and showed a surplus of $1.4 billion.
When the federal budget was tabled, we learned that the Trudeau government’s spending for the 2023-2024 fiscal year would reach $496.9 billion, with a deficit of more than $40 billion. A sum of 80 billion over 10 years will be allocated to the green transition, including tax credits of 15 to 30%. How can we be sure that this sum is based on reliable data and that this money will be spent effectively?
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to government spending and missing data. There is a lack of data culture in the public service. But when the government in power measures its success solely by the size of the figures it announces, it is understandable that civil servants do not take too much offense at these shortcomings.
As in any organization, culture comes from the top. Since Prime Minister Trudeau has shown no budgetary rigor since the beginning of his mandate and the effects of announcements seem to matter more to him than the results, we cannot be surprised at the sloppiness in the public service on the lack of reliable data. It helps, sometimes, to have accountants at the top.