The same day the Harper government faced accusations from a departing Conservative caucus member that it lacks accountability and transparency, the PBO said it still can’t obtain data from most government departments on the long-term impacts of deep budget cuts.
In a report released Thursday, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer says it’s unable to fulfil NDP Leader Tom Mulcair’s request to analyze the ongoing consequences of billion of dollars in spending reductions announced in last year’s budget because the government refuses to provide the necessary information.
The information obtained by the PBO shows that “unprecedented” productivity improvements are necessary if the government is to achieve its planned spending cuts without negative impacts to federal programs and services.
While 60 of 82 federal departments and agencies eventually responded in some form to the PBO’s request over several months for information, “few provided information regarding service level impacts, with several organizations indicating that these data are deemed to fall outside of the PBO’s legislative mandate,” the PBO says in the report.
The data that were provided indicate the government plans to spend billions of dollars less but hopes to provide the same level of services through increased productivity — a strategy the PBO notes has failed repeatedly in the past.
The limited information provided indicates the government will be able to achieve its planned $1.5 billion in cuts for the 2012-13 fiscal year that ended in March, largely due to staffing reductions, the report says.
However, the government refuses to show how and if the planned spending cuts — while supposedly maintaining the same level and quality of public services — are sustainable over the long term.
Only 16 of the 82 government organizations, accounting for approximately eight per cent of the savings proposed in budget 2012, provided the requested information on the long-term sustainability of the spending cuts.
“Without the requested information, it is difficult for the PBO to estimate the long-term sustainability of the efficiency measures initiated in Budget 2012, which represent the majority of the restraint package,” said Sahir Khan, assistant Parliamentary Budget Officer.
“However, the PBO’s analysis suggests that in order to deliver the fiscal savings without negative service-level impacts to Canadians, the government would have to sustain a significant productivity improvement, which would be unprecedented in recent history.”
Indeed, the PBO noted a handful of examples where the government, through planned efficiency improvements, expects to achieve a lofty goal of $8 in savings for every $1 invested.
The PBO is willing to assess the sustainability of the planned spending cuts if and when the data are made available by the government, he added.
“Given that preliminary findings seem to suggest that the government plans to spend less and achieve a similar level of output (i.e. less money, similar results), parliamentarians may wish to solicit further details regarding how this will be accomplished,” the PBO says in the report.
Despite the government’s refusal to provide the requested information, the PBO — buoyed by a recent court ruling — maintains it has the right to access federal data detailing the potential effects of cuts to federal programs and services.
A Federal Court decision in April reaffirmed the right of the PBO to ask for the information it has been seeking for more than a year.
In the ruling, the court said the budget officer has the mandate to estimate and analyze the cost of any issue that Parliament has jurisdiction over when requested to do so by an MP or senator.
Matthew Conway, spokesman for Treasury Board president Tony Clement, noted the report confirmed federal departments and agencies will be able to implement spending reductions over the short term and that government’s service level targets remain largely unchanged.
“Wherever possible, the government continues to provide the PBO with information,” Conway said.
Original Article
Source: ottawacitizen.com
Author: Jason Fekete
No comments:
Post a Comment