Ontario Drummond Report, Transparency and Open Government

[Tracey P. Lauriault]

I have been told from reliable sources that the province of Ontario is
in big trouble and we are now a have not province!  Thanks Michael L.
for getting my head out of the sand, and now I cannot put it back
there and ignore the whole thing!

Anyway, Ted from Halton circulated the link to the just released
Drummond Report: Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services
and here is the section with the very cautious approach to
transparency, accountability and procurement:

http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/reformcommission/chapters/ch16.html

Essentially, if the cost of transparency is too high, then it will not
get done.  My concern is with IT and Data oursourcing and those dang
NOT citizen friendly data and service procurement agreements that the
report references in terms of infrastructure in most sections.

The executive summary included:

"Strengthened accountability and transparency: Business support
programs must be subject to rigorous evaluation that links public
expenditures to new, incremental activities by business. A four-year
sunset rule should be applied to all future business support programs,
and programs should be extended only if they have demonstrated their
worth. Greater transparency is also essential. A simple inventory of
direct business support programs seemed to be difficult for the
Ontario Public Service (OPS) to produce"

"Accountability is essential, but we often treat that goal as an
absolute good. Taxpayers expect excellent management and transparent
procurement, but an exclusive focus on rigorous financial reporting
and compliance requires a significant investment of time, energy and
resources that is subject to diminishing returns. The added cost to
government, to the general public, and to the private and non-profit
sectors in ensuring compliance should be balanced against the risk of
waste or fraud. The Auditor General should be asked to help find a new
and appropriate balance. At a minimum, the government should switch
from individually tracked expenses to a per diem system for civil
servants and consultants."

There was nothing in this report that I could see about open
government and open data, and information sharing.

t
--
Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805

"Every epoch dreams the one that follows it's the dream form of the
future, not its reality" it is the "wish image of the collective".

Walter Benjamin, between 1927-1940,
(http://www.columbia.edu/itc/architecture/ockman/pdfs/dossier_4/buck-morss.pdf)