Niagara Falls Review
Published: Thursday, April 22, 2010

Auditor points out critical systems in danger of collapsing

Back in my days with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (1997-2003), reports from the auditor general -- like the one delivered Tuesday -- served to reinforce that we were not alone in fighting the good fight against waste, abuse and mismanagement in government.

Now the AG's tone is more diplomatic than the analyses that me and my CTF colleagues used to (and my successors still do) pump out, but the intent was the same: To get better value for our precious tax dollars and ensure programs and services effectively and efficiently serve Canadians who need them.

Sadly, the response from governments of all stripes has been to adopt variations on the following message: "Yes we acknowledge and welcome the important work of the auditor general. Indeed, the AG noted some progress on file X, issue Y and program Z and I would also point out that these findings are in some cases several years old and not reflective of the current state of affairs in Department A, Agency B, or Commission C." Then the appropriate official pops a few Advil, answers a few questions and life goes on.

Hopefully, Tuesday's report will encourage parliamentarians (and the media) to focus on the important and systemic issues of government that affect people's everyday lives like EI cheques, CPP payments, tax collections and the like.

This would be a welcome change from pack mentality (except the NDP to be fair) who have chased the Guergis-Jaffer quasi-scandal.

Sheila Fraser's office found several government IT systems are decades old and these systems must be renewed or replaced. The costs to ensure tax collection and benefit payment -- EI, CPP, OAS -- computer systems are modernized will cost $2 billion alone.

This issue has festered for the better part of a decade. It cries out for leadership and action.

Ditto for the rehabilitation of our parliamentary precinct. Electrical and heating/cooling systems in West Block and Centre Block require major improvements. The AG is definitive in noting that public works, as the main contractor, cannot always get the Senate and House on the same page to get things done, "making decisions takes time and ultimately results in project delays and inefficient use of resources." Enough said.

Finally, the AG, along with her provincial peers, identified critical challenges with the management and delivery of electronic health records such as too few doctors using computerized systems, a lack of compatibility between provincial systems, conflicting data collection, protection and disclosure protocols and oh yeah, the small issue of what it will actually cost to complete this national system.

Guess who needs a few Advil now?