TORONTO – Canada’s Auditor General (AG) did our new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, a huge favour this week when she presented her Report(s) to Parliament. Report 4 – Professional Services Contracts is nothing less than a scathing indictment of the process and procedures followed or ignored in [Federal] bureaucracies when allocating taxpayers’ monies to obtain services and assets for the public benefit. In a word, there may not be any; moreover, the [political] oversight seems to have vanished completely. At least in respect of GCStrategies Inc, the focus of the Report.
GCStrategies, a two-person staffing company, benefited to the tune of $92.7 million from thirty-one different Federal Agencies and Departments via contracts ranging from $11,985 (CBC) to $48,878,495 (Canadian Border Services Agency). Not all the monies were paid out. The AG points out that only $64.5 million was ultimately paid out; and, GCStrategies represented [only] 0.37% of the total amount paid for informatic services across all federal organizations during the period. That suggests an overall amount of approximately $27.9 Billion during the last Ministry for such services.
The AG’s language is perhaps excessively polite but no less damning for what comes across as scant attention to rules, questionable effectiveness of projects, indifference to outcomes and a blurring of the line between incompetence and deliberate malfeasance. There is no other way put it – every Department and Agency has professionals galore on which to rely. The AG ‘laments’ that federal organizations frequently disregarded policies […including ] not having records showing…performed work, what work was completed… whether people doing the work had the required experience and qualifications. In addition… [they] failed to verify that the fees paid did not exceed market rates. Hello. Why is no one in jail?
Having served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for the Auditor General, i was particularly struck by her willingness to raise the obvious questions inherent in her statements: highlights gaps in basic requirements … confirms weaknesses raised in previous audits. What an indictment. She closes off her opening comments with a sarcastic slice: federal procurement policies promote fairness, transparency, and value for Canadians – when they are followed. Almost never, it appears.
Before readers become anxious, they should keep in mind that the Auditor’s Report is historical document assessing events between April 2015 through March 2024, the former government’s era. Its leader is gone. Mark Carney has taken some pains to distance himself from that history. He now can point to the AG’s Report as evidence that he had nothing to do with its history.
In the pic below, from left: former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (screenshot from his Twitter page X) and Auditor General Karen Hogan (screenshot from CPAC YouTube channel)
