Ottawa, 6 May 2014 - In his Spring 2014 report tabled today in Parliament, Auditor General Michael Ferguson examines a number of different areas, including public sector pension plans and the expansion of federal correctional facilities, which illustrate how important it is for government to consider both the long and short term perspectives in its planning.
“As some of these audits show, government can become caught in a cycle of reacting to pressures, whether to mitigate capacity concerns in prisons or meet program timelines,” said Mr. Ferguson. “Though government should work to provide Canadians with programs and services in a timely fashion, planning should also look beyond the needs of the day.”
“Better long-term planning is achievable in many of the areas we are reporting on today, and would improve results for Canadians and make better use of taxpayer dollars,” added Mr. Ferguson.
The report also looks at procuring relocation services, outsourcing of building management services, aggressive tax planning, the First Nations Policing Program, selected transfer payment programs administered by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, and the quality control framework supporting selected data products produced by Statistics Canada. Main points of the special examinations of the Laurentian Pilotage Authority and the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, completed since Spring 2013, are also included in the Auditor General’s Spring report.
The Auditor General will be holding a news conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa at 11:30 a.m.
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The 2014 Spring Report of the Auditor General of Canada is available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada Web site.
For more information, please click here.
