Civil Service $$ Waste and new paint on an old barn

Maclean's magazine has an article on wasteful gov't spending this week.

It's Ok as far as it goes, but the problem AND it's symptoms goes far beyond the scope the writers were allowed.

It quotes dear ol' Reg Alcock, Mr Dithers' President of the Treasury Board, who "studied these shortcomings (in reliable reporting data on civil service travel etc expenditures)closely during his two-year tenure. He discovered that they date back to at least the 1980s, when the government attempted to apply private sector management theory to its operations, spreading authority further and further down the food chain. "The new mantra was let the managers manage," he explains. "The idea was to move operating decisions as close to the point of contact with the customer as you can.""

Sorry Reggie, sorry Charlie Gillis and Michael Friscolanti (the Macleans' writers) but "Let the managers manage" came out of the 1962 Royal Commission on Government Organization headed by J. Grant Glassco (see their work as "milestone #9"s on the Treasury Board Website) .

In the 60's Canada was enjoying a time of plenty, there was tons of tax money flowing in, no debt and the government was contemplating taking on tasks that were huge (at the time).

During the Depression and in WWII the government intervened tremendously in private life (and business) for the greater common good. In the 50's the same bunch in gov't (Wm L M King and his extremely capable, right-hand man C.D. Howe) decided THEY could run the economy in peacetime prosperity just as well as they had in times of war and hardship.

So they did. They ran Canada as if they owned it. But unfortunately the Executive Council ( Cabinet) of the House of Commons has no statutory or Constitutional power to do anything like that on their own. The actions of the Legislative Order are vetted and approved by the Executive Order .... at least that's how it's written down.

But no one challenged them (apart from Dief and resulting the Pipeline Fiasco that caused a 5 year break in the Liberal Party's 'transformation of Canada').

The Cabinet just continued to use the powers of the Privy Council committees (Treasury Board et al) that they'd scooped up in 1940 (Order-in-Council P.C. 1940-1121) to supervise their own work and approve their own decisions.

Odd how so many are approved, eh?

Anyway, now you know why the government is a mess - the Privy Council WAS NEVER INTENDED TO BE CONTROLLED BY THE PRIME MINISTER.

The Privy Council was to be another double-checking level, populated with really wise & truly trusted associates of the GOVERNOR GENERAL, who is entrusted with all the powers to decide or deny (BNA Act ss. 55-57) everything done in Canada, on behalf of the Crown (another day for defining that one).

So, do-gooders, investigative reporters-with-spreadsheets and new-broom-Prime Ministers, before doing anything else on accountability, re-sever the Privy Council Office from the Prime Minister's Office (just repeal the Order-in-Council, no legislation required) and re-institute a double-check, by independent, officers-that-you-did-not-choose of your own minority-House decisions.

Without that, all is just new paint on an old barn.