EI rate cut: Ottawa skipped internal study in favour of interest group report

2014/11/21 Leave a comment

One sometimes wonder how Minister’s can say such things with a straight face, or whether they have any appreciation for more comprehensive analysis of policy options.

It is one thing to make a policy choice where political and other priorities play a role, but relying on the analysis of one interest group without a more independent assessment (that’s the public service role) is irresponsible.

No policy change should be done without such analysis. Abdication of Ministerial role.

And of course, the Government would not implement a policy suggestion from those on the left without conducting serious analysis:

Joe Oliver told the parliamentary finance committee that Ottawas decision to introduce the measure was based on the research of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

“The department does not analyze every measure that we introduce,” Oliver told the hearing as he responded to a question.

“If we don’t do it, we look to those who have expertise and we did in this case to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.”

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimated the credit would generate 25,000 person-years of employment over the next several years.

A job that employs a worker for one year amounts to one “person-year.”

But Canada’s parliamentary budget office has argued the credit will create only 800 net new jobs in 2015-16, while a freeze in employment insurance premiums could cost the economy 10,000 jobs over the same period.

The budget watchdogs study said that overall, the credit would create about 1,000 “person-years” of employment with a price tag of $555,000 for each person-year.

EI rate cut: Ottawa skipped internal study in favour of interest group report – Politics – CBC News.

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Canadians love their libraries but report urges new chapter

2014/11/14 Leave a comment

More on the ongoing decline of Library and Archives Canada and the cumulative effect of budget cutbacks in the Royal Society of Canada report on libraries:

The society panel spoke with dozens of librarians, archivists, students, seniors, new Canadians, and library users young and older, said Demers during a conference call Wednesday.

But the decline of LAC, which has suffered widespread budget cuts and staff reductions, was a major concern for Canadians across the board, she said.

“LAC is our national institution mandated by act of 2004 to acquire and preserve our documentary heritage and make it known to and available to Canadians,” she said. “There has been a decade-long decline in all the services at LAC.”

The panel heard from “disappointed professional” LAC users, including Governor General’s Literary Award winning author Jane Urquhart who gave it a collection of papers but has since been told she can’t have access to them.

… (Between 2009-12, the federal government cut 445 of its library jobs, mostly at LAC and the National Research Council’s science library).

Canadians love their libraries but report urges new chapter | Ottawa Citizen.

Ironic, that a Government that promoted Canadian history in its citizenship guide, Discover Canada, appears to be enabling Canadians to forget it.

For a thoughtful discussion on the importance of reading and books, CBC’s The Current did an excellent interview with Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran (great book from both a literary criticism point of view as well as the context of post-Revolution Iran):

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/current_20141112_30305.mp3

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Information watchdog says cash crunch endangers Canadians access rights

2014/11/12 Leave a comment

All too true. My experience with CIC ATIP confirms the delays and obfuscation:

“This growth in workload occurs in the context of significant financial restraint measures that have had a large impact on my budget,” Legault says in the report.

“With the incoming complaints volume showing no sign of abating, and with no financial flexibility, it is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to keep ahead of demand and respond to complainants in as timely a manner as possible.”

It means a gap of about six months between the time a complaint about lack of access to records is received and the time it is assigned to an investigator.

The commissioners budget must absorb salary increases next year, leaving her concerned “we have been stretched to the limit.”

“It is my responsibility to alert the government and Parliament to the risks that the organization is facing,” Legault adds in the report.

“Without additional funding, I will no longer be able to carry out my mandate responsibly and ensure full respect of Canadians rights of access to information. As such, I intend to seek the support of the Treasury Board to obtain the necessary financing.”

Information watchdog says cash crunch endangers Canadians access rights – Politics – CBC News.

Globe editorial in favour of more resources and better compliance with ATIP:

Response times have dropped disastrously as a consequence. Ms. Legault, in going public this week about the impact of the cutbacks, said the wait time between the filing of a complaint and the assigning of an investigator has reached six months. Her next move will be to make a formal request to the Treasury Board for more money. Treasury Board President Tony Clement has had no comment, so far.

Mr. Clement should give the Information Commissioner the resources she needs. Since taking power, the Harper government has focused on putting more information online and on launching its Open Government web portal. But those efforts, however worthwhile, will mean little if the government simultaneously makes it harder for Canadians to get information that has been classified or held back for political reasons – arguably the most important information of all in a free society. The Conservatives knew this in 2006; why don’t they know it now?

 Harper government cutbacks hurting access to info 

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State-sponsored hackers target human rights groups, study says – The Globe and Mail

2014/11/12 Leave a comment

Not surprising:

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Deibert explained the Internet has extended the reach of repressive states.

Cyberespionage may well cost businesses their profits, he said, but for refugees and dissidents the downstream effects can be “arrest, detention, or even loss of life.” Consider what could happen to exiles who return to countries that never stopped capturing their conversations.

For its study, the Citizen Lab examined eight groups engaged in “rights issues related to China and Tibet.” It also looked at two larger human-rights groups operating globally. The organizations submitted their data and devices for analysis, on the condition that they remain anonymous.

The report suggests that hackers known to cybersecurity experts as “APT1” – short for Advanced Persistent Threat 1 – were targeting at least one China-focused group and one international rights group. This is significant because experts regard APT1 as a powerful hacking team run by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

Such groups use social media to study up on key personnel in targeted organizations. This research helps them craft messages that their prey will more likely open – and be infected by.

May be some opportunities for capacity-building but the Government doesn’t exactly have good relations with many NGOs.

State-sponsored hackers target human rights groups, study says – The Globe and Mail.

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The government doesn’t know how many jobs the small business job credit will create

2014/11/12 Leave a comment

The depths that the Government and public service have descended to:

The federal government has put forward a new policy, but it has not released its own analysis of the policy’s impact. An official with the relevant department says an estimate of the number of jobs expected to be created by the policy was not calculated and that calculating the number of jobs produced by a single measure is difficult. Nonetheless, the minister touts the estimate of a business association, but the finance department has not done its own analysis of the methodology behind that estimate.

The government doesn’t know how many jobs the small business job credit will create – Macleans.ca.

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Open government plan slams door on Access to Information Act reform – Politics – CBC News

2014/11/10 Leave a comment

Not a surprise.

But a good place to start would be with full and timely implementation, both in law and spirit, of the current Act:

The plan disappointed Duff Conacher, a board member of Democracy Watch, whose organization encouraged about 2,000 people to submit letters to Clements department advocating an overhaul of the law.

The group says the acts built-in exemptions — coupled with Legault’s inability to force departments to comply with the law — leave important files under wraps.

“The loopholes allow government to hide the information that shows corrupt, wasteful, abusive actions,” Conacher said.

“The Conservatives have ignored the call from most groups involved in this issue across the country for a stronger Access to Information Act and an information commissioner with enforcement powers.”

The NDP and Liberals have put forward private members bills to update the access law, but the legislative efforts havent been embraced by the Conservatives.

The government is “doing absolutely nothing” to modernize the act, said NDP digital issues critic Charmaine Borg, calling the lack of action “very problematic” and not “a road to real openness.”

Clement said the government is concentrating on making progress on the existing access law.

“The structure of the act, I think, is basically a good structure.”

Open government plan slams door on Access to Information Act reform – Politics – CBC News.

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Ending mandatory long-form census has hurt Canada – Globe Editorial

2014/11/08 Leave a comment

The Globe on the ideologically driven decision to cancel the Census and the private member bill to restore it:

The warnings were prophetic. The compulsory long-form census in 2006 had a 93.5 per cent response rate. The voluntary one in 2011 had a 68.6 per cent response rate, even though more surveys were sent to more homes. When the 2011 data were released, they came with prominent warnings about contamination due to “higher non-response error.” Information gathered about more than one quarter of all Canadian communities wasn’t released because too few people in those places filled out the voluntary form. Aboriginal communities were particularly underrepresented.

Think-tanks, economists, scientists and academics in Canada and around the world have dismissed the 2011 data as fatally flawed. It can’t be compared in a meaningful way with the 2006 data, because they were gathered using different methodologies. Vital research projects on issues like income, unemployment and poverty that require long-term data have been compromised. And Statistics Canada can’t provide an accurate picture of how Canadians are faring, relative to 2006, since the 2008 economic crash.

Statisticians are statisticians so we don’t have to be. If they say they need accurate, regular, comparable census, then that’s what they should get from the government. Mr. Hsu’s bill may be doomed, but it will go down fighting to reverse a decision that has harmed the country in tangible ways.

Ending mandatory long-form census has hurt Canada – The Globe and Mail.

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Policy making suffering in Canada without the long-form census

2014/11/07 Leave a comment

Unfortunately, the Government will not take advice to reinstate the Census:

Perhaps the biggest casualty of the switch to the new survey is the ability to analyze trends over time – among the most critical components of any research tool. The household survey and the long-form census are so different that we are no longer able to compare different periods in a statistically rigorous way.

We see nothing wrong in requiring Canadians by law to complete a survey as important as this one. Even in the U.S., where trust in government is not exactly high, the American Community Survey is mandatory. The authorities have reasoned – and few citizens have objected – that a mandatory response is the only way to ensure adequate data quality.

If the government in Ottawa can be persuaded to bring back the mandatory long-form survey for the next census, due in 2016, we will have a gap of 10 years since the last such exercise.

That may not be ideal, but it would be acceptable. The full census was conducted at 10-year intervals prior to the introduction of the current five-year cycle in 1986. Indeed, a 10-year break would be less disruptive than continuing with the new household survey, which leaves us with a complete break in historical data.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said recently that “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” His comments were made in the context of child and maternal health, but they apply equally to other areas of policy making, and drive better performance in business planning and economic analysis.

My experience in working with the NHS and in talking to those more experienced than me, confirms these weaknesses of the NHS compared to the Census.

A short-sighted and ideological move that weakens evidence-based policy for governments and needed information for business decisions.

Policy making suffering in Canada without the long-form census – The Globe and Mail.

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Public service still shrinking, but signs show hiring picking up

2014/11/06 Leave a comment

PS_Hiring_2013-14Understandably, latest report focus on hiring after recent rounds of downsizing:

In its latest annual report, the Public Service Commission revealed signs the bureaucracy is coming out of a major downsizing and gearing up to hire. More jobs were advertised, more people applied and more were hired, moved and promoted within the bureaucracy than the year before.

“What we are now seeing in the data – and we started to see it turn around last year – is that the demand by departments for new hires is starting to go up. So we do anticipate that we will turn the corner on this and start to hire new graduates into permanent jobs in the coming year,” PSC president Anne-Marie Robinson recently told the Senate finance committee.

In fact, the commission has been active getting the message out that once the downsizing is completed, the government will recruit new talent.

Robinson said the public service is “changing” as it emerges smaller and leaner from the 2012 federal budget cuts, which reduced the number of employees by 10 per cent from March 2011.

But last year also saw the first increase in hiring and staffing, both of which had fallen every year for four years. Overall, hiring and staffing jumped 11.7 per cent over the previous year – a far cry from the hiring spree in the years before the Conservatives froze operating budgets and put the brakes on spending.

Relative little on employment equity, which awaits the more comprehensive Treasury Board report, but the above graph highlights the main trends for visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples.

For visible minorities, applicants are greater than labour market availability (LMA), appointments less. The report, unless I missed it, did not have any up-to-date figures on actual representation within the public service.

Public service still shrinking, but signs show hiring picking up | Ottawa Citizen.

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Revenue Canada targets birdwatchers for political activity

2014/10/18 1 Comment

This may be the over-reach that helps clarify the issues – targeting birdwatchers (see earlier Canadian charities in limbo as tax audits widen to new groups – Politics – CBC News):

But longtime member Roger Suffling is speaking up, saying the issue is about democratic freedom and not about arcane tax rules.

“Effectively, they’ve put a gag on us,” he said in an interview, noting that the letter arrived just after the club had written directly to two federal cabinet ministers to complain about government-approved chemicals that damage bee colonies.

“You can piece together the timing,” said Suffling, an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo. “The two things are very concurrent.”

Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq responded to the group’s complaint in a March 14 letter — or just days after the Canada Revenue Agency letter arrived — and Suffling is convinced the two events are linked. Aglukkaqs office denies there’s any link, saying the agency operates independently.

Suffling said that if government is using the tax agency as a “pit bull to stifle dissent, then there’s something very wrong.”

Revenue Canada targets birdwatchers for political activity – Politics – CBC News.

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