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An instructor once told me: “A great democracy requires a great bureaucracy.” He went on to talk about the fact that in India just buying a house and transferring the title could take up to three years, while Alberta title deeds at the time could take two weeks.
Announcement 2
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Today, in Canada, I still believe that our bureaucrats are honest and dedicated, but what we all see today is a system with inefficiency, lack of urgency and, above all, lack of accountability. The passport fiasco is just the tip of the iceberg, but take a second to examine it.
Think about it, the passport people essentially said, “Well, after two years of being home, we didn’t think Canadians would be that eager to travel.” My question is, who lost their job because of this chaos? Who did they call to the mat and ask what their return-to-work plan was for this department?
Canada is building eight new ships. Six are Arctic patrol boats for the Royal Canadian Navy and two are for the Canadian Coast Guard. the two for the coast guard they are budgeted at $750 million each, 30 percent more than the Arctic patrol boats, but that doesn’t matter because the ships are behind schedule and projected to far exceed their budgets.
Announcement 3
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The coast guard ships are of the same design as the navy ships, but both versions will only be able to operate in the Arctic between July and October. If the Chinese or the Russians decide to invade Canada, they will have to make sure they don’t come during those five months.
Even more upsetting are our 28 new Cyclone helicopters, which were budgeted at $3.2 billion but increased to $5.7 billion. From today, cracks have been discovered in the queues of 21 of these units and this is attributed to the fact that the equipment they carry is too heavy for the queues. As one Army person told me anonymously, “We needed to have Ford F-150s and they gave us Cadillac Escalades.”
Even the critical Trans Mountain Pipeline costs several billion dollars over budget, and then a 400 meter stretch stops for woodpecker nests. We are crazy?
Announcement 4
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The stories go on and on, some factual, some anecdotal, but the reality is that our proud and once envied civil service, whether it be the military, border services, the RCMP or people who simply serve the public, has been reduced to a mere shadow of his former self. Perhaps the fact that our parliamentarians think it’s okay to not show up for work for months has set the standard for all of our federal employees to lose enthusiasm for their jobs.
To be sure, there are accountability issues at all levels. When budgets are exceeded or schedules are missed, there are no repercussions. There is political interference in decision making. Put bluntly, it is hard to find a federal infrastructure program that has been done on time or within budget.
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There was a time when it was hard work being in the civil service. You were paid less than in the private sector, you worked hard, you were criticized and you received a small pension. Today the civil service is well paid, often more than equivalent private sector jobs, the hours are defined, as are vacations, and you receive a generous pension, which is almost unheard of in private companies today. .
I’m not skimping on any of this, but what I’m saying is that it’s time for accountability. Canadians should be proud of everything the federal government does, not ashamed or angry about it. Budgets must be met, and if they are not, people must be called to the mat.
Priorities must be set, not by political opportunism, but by realistic needs, and those priorities must be followed. Our current government loves to talk about itself in glowing terms, but the reality is that we have a failing infrastructure, we can’t get things done or approved and if the government does anything it will be too costly, behind schedule and over budget.
Surely, as Canadians, we deserve much better than this.
George H. Brookman is chairdresser and company ambassador WCD Ltd.
