Ottawa failed to measure how many jobs it created through its multi-billion stimulus programs, the federal spending watchdog says, but the Conservatives otherwise emerge relatively unscathed from a detailed audit of their Economic Action Plan. Interim Auditor-General John Wiersema released an audit report Tuesday that focused on three stimulus programs with a combined budget of $7-billion.
The audit focused on how federal officials monitored the Economic Action Plan (EAP) projects in terms of progress on construction and spending. Auditors did not look at the merits of the projects or how they impacted the Canadian economy.
“For the three specific programs we audited, the government was diligent in monitoring the progress of projects and their spending,” said Mr. Wiersema in a statement.
The three EAP projects were the $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, the $2-billion Knowledge Infrastructure Program and the $1-billion Community Adjustment Fund. The Auditor General’s office had previously audited other aspects of the stimulus program for a fall 2010 report.
The programs examined in this latest report were just three parts of a $47-billion stimulus plan that aimed to fund “shovel ready” construction jobs put forward by provinces and municipalities in an effort to boost employment during the global recession that hit in late 2008.
Even though the main purpose of the program was to create jobs, the Auditor-General’s report found projects were not assessed based on the number of jobs created.
“One of the key objectives of the Community Adjustment Fund was to create or maintain jobs in communities hit hard by the economic downturn,” the report states. “It remains unclear how the government will assess the effectiveness of the Community Adjustment Fund in achieving this objective.”
Tuesday’s audit also looked at the government’s decision to extend the original deadline of March 31, 2011 for completing stimulus projects and found the decision was based on analyzing the potential risk of holding to a hard deadline.
In another chapter of the report, the Auditor-General also criticized flaws in the health screening of visa applicants. The report said that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has only defined two diseases – syphilis and tuberculosis – as “dangers to public health.”
The Auditor-General said 54 other diseases are deemed to require national surveillance in Canada, but Citizenship and Immigration Canada “has not conducted a review to determine whether foreign nationals should be subject to mandatory testing for some of these diseases in order to protect public health.”
The Auditor-General said that the federal government is also slow to review many types of drugs.
“(Health Canada's) performance for reviewing generic drugs, over-the-counter drugs that required a clinical review, and post-market change submissions was particularly poor,” the report said.
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Source: Globe&Mail
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