Conclusion: Accountable Government, Responsive and Innovative
There are obvious links across the three streams of accountable, responsive, and innovative government. Shaping policies, programs, and services to meet the interests
of Canadians is critical to responsive government. A focus on citizen needs is not possible without a results-driven approach to expenditure and HR management called for
under innovative government, nor without the oversight and control measures crucial to accountable government.
Taken together, the plan for action outlined in this management improvement agenda affects virtually every aspect of government activity and will result in significant
reform. However, reforming government policies, programs, systems, and processes alone will not achieve our goal. One of the underlying tenets of the Canadian system of
responsible government has always been that government must continually strive to serve Canadians with ethics and integrity in all it does.
Hence, restoring trust through demonstrating integrity and competence is a common theme to each aspect of the action plan:
- Programs and services will need to be managed in a way that makes them more relevant and coherent.
- They must also be delivered in a way that provides value for money and demonstrates good stewardship.
- Managers must openly and directly account for the performance of their programs, in keeping with the ethics and values of public service.
Management improvement of this scale will require sustained effort and, in due course, the necessary investment of resources to effect the transformation.
This agenda will affect every aspect of the government’s operations. The government will fully inform and engage public service employees, whose enthusiasm for
change is essential to success and whose commitment to professionalism and public service has been noteworthy.
The government will manage, oversee, and accomplish its agenda within reasonable time frames, taking an incremental and phased approach backed by the necessary
resources. Many initiatives will take several years to reach their full potential, but only with steady effort in the short run will they happen at all. For these reasons,
an oversight committee of independent public- and private-sector leaders will be established to provide the president of the Treasury Board with advice on the
measures taken to implement management improvements. The oversight committee will report annually on the government’s progress in implementing these
initiatives.
Over the past two years, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Auditor General of Canada have made numerous recommendations and
observations aimed at strengthening practices in public-sector management. The government has taken their views and suggestions into account in the development of this
action plan. It will finalize its plans only after it receives the findings and recommendations of Mr. Justice Gomery and his Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship
Program and Advertising Activities. Following the receipt of these recommendations and the government’s review of them, the President of the Treasury Board will
offer to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to provide further details, check the course taken by the government, and receive first-hand the views of
parliamentarians.
The government recognizes that, ultimately, its success will be determined by how well its programs and services meet the needs of citizens; how satisfied Canadians are
with the way it allocates its resources and accounts for its performance; and the pride public service employees have in their work and the trust Canadians have in them to
do it well. In 2006, the government will begin to report annually on the state of its management practices. The report will detail the government’s progress on the
elements of its agenda and how they are helping meet the standards Canadians expect for competence and integrity in public-sector management.
|
