"Ministries and Crown Agencies will continue to be responsible for determining whether, and to what extent, stakeholder consultations are required, as well as, conducting any necessary consultations."

"Phase II reports presented to the Core Review and Deregulation Task Force should include the following:

• Summary of the findings of the complete Core Services Review analysis;
  
• A clear articulation of the redesigned Ministry or Crown Agency mandate and description of its core programs, activities and business units;
  
• A clearly defined organizational structure and governance model for the entity that equips it to effectively manage and to flexibly respond to changes in its operating environment;
  
• Description of any exit or transition strategies, if applicable;
  
• Identification of any major implementation options;
  
• A proposed timetable and high level plan for implementing the changes;
  
• Identification of the social, economic, financial, human resource, information technology, environmental, political, regulatory and legal implications, and any associated risk management considerations and strategies for addressing these issues;
  
• A stakeholder impact assessment;
  
• Identification of horizontal issues having cross-program components/impacts; and
  
• A communications and change management strategy."
  

If recent experience is any guide, requests under the Freedom of Information Act will result in months of delay and finally an excuse that the documents are protected by cabinet privilege. Nevertheless, requests have been submitted. A government that has selectively released sections of its core review information to a government website ought not to hide key sections on implications, stakeholder impact assessments and identification of "horizontal issues".

---

January 21, 2002

Responsibility - Attempted Escape
Setting up others for government's failures

Some people are cheering Premier Campbell's cuts. There are folks whose philosophical outlook is dominated by a vision of smaller government regardless of the consequences. As reports flesh out the details on hundreds of stories about lost services, such folks will turn off at best and applaud at worst.

There is another story buried in Black Thursday that should grab the attention of even the smaller is beautiful clique. In the January 17th media session the Premier and his Minister of Finance spoke of three year budget projections and of objective criteria for measuring the performance of each ministry. The legal requirement for those projections and standards was established by the NDP when it passed BC's Budget Accountability and Transparency Act, adopted in early 2000. BC's statute is similar to what can be found in the 1993 US Government Performance Results Act and in similar laws elsewhere.

Government documents released on January 17th specified major initiatives for most ministries. On Budget Day, February 19th, we will see how objective the criteria are for measuring the success or failure of those initiatives.

In the Ministry of Advanced Education a positive major initiative is found in a list that is a lot of negative code language for higher tuition and less government assistance. It says that "over the next three years, the Ministry will clarify the roles and mandates of institutions so that students are provided with the programs and courses they need, in the forms and at the times they want them." That is a very strong commitment. It echoes the New Era commitment about getting health care when and where you need it. (Just ask the folks in Delta.)

Is the Campbell government creating "wiggle room"? Will it blame the institutions if the government fails? The words "clarify the roles" suggest the Campbell government might attempt to blame others for its failures while it takes credit for the success of others.

Attempts to shift responsibility and escape accountability are consistent throughout the Campbell government's initiatives. Health and school boards are to have "performance contracts" as will the new Children's Aid Societies that will absorb 2,800 workers from the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

The theme of setting others up for the government's failures can be found in results oriented language throughout government documents. The Campbell government has to understand that it is responsible for the consequences of its decisions. No amount of shifting will allow it to escape.

The "objective standards" government lays out to measure performance on budget day require public scrutiny by everyone - even by the smaller is beautiful clique. No one should allow the controversy over lost services to delay their assessment of criteria that government sets for measuring its own performance.