I like to get ahead on things. (en francais)

Susan Riley's piece in the Ottawa Citizen and Windsor Star this weekend got me thinking. (subscriber only content, but it should be in most CanWest papers).

Time bomb for Grits?

You could here a steady ticking in question period this week.

It sounded familiar. A bit like a time bomb.

It started when the Conservatives began pressing for answers on a controversial government program, Technology Partnerships Canada, intended to promote business innovation. It has emerged that about $3.7 million was improperly paid to lobbyists, who secured TPC loans for four unnamed firms.

I figured we might as well get in front of this one and coin a name for the upcoming 'suprise' that the program is riddled with problems and that the taxpayer is getting hosed yet again. Over $2.7 billion in 'loans' to industries have been given out since 1996 with a repayment rate of only 5%. Now we have kickbacks with unnamed lobbyists and firms benefiting from government money. For some strange reason - this sounds very familiar.

IndustryGate is too lame, and isn't everyone getting tired of the whole 'gate' label?

Adscam was good. We need to be ready with the appropriate moniker for this barrel of monkeys.

Here are my suggestions on how we should refer to this going forward:

RoboGate - I know - there's that 'gate' again, but it's just too easy. In honour of former Industry Minister Lucienne Robillard, who was minister when all these fine audits and reports were completed. You know - the ones that say that there are no problems! ;

RockPet - can't forget former Industry Minister Allan Rock;

Grease - self explanatory;

I know, these are kind of weak, but it's 1:30am and I'm stretching a little here. I'm sure all the others out there can chime in with a few gems.

Below you can find a series of background links to put all of this into perspective.

Technology Partnerships Canada

Industry Canada repayments page - careful when you click on this one, it loads pretty fast.

Year in Review - 2002-2003(PDF)

91% of senior public servants raked in 'performance bonuses' for 2003/2004. - read further below for why this one was included. How can you issue performance bonuses when you aren't measuring performance?

Below you will find a table of performance indicators taken from an Industry Canada Report - EvaluationTPCDetailedFindingsReport.pdf



Look very carefully at all the no's in the above chart. I wonder why they don't report yearly on things like Repayment and Accountability. I'll give you a hint:

THEY DON'T KNOW!

The first evidence that TPC has gathered and analyzed information on the full range of performance indicators is provided by a report dated October 2002, entitled Reporting on 2000-2001 Program Performance Results. This report, and the accompanying memorandum to senior management, is indicated to be a first prototype of the summary report.

The report states that Tier Two level performance measurement information first mentioned in the 1998-99 Business Plan is not included, as it is subject to further development work.

Interviews with TPC, Industry Canada Sector, IRAP and Other Government Department Representatives

Interviews with TPC managers and staff confirmed that TPC has been planning to develop and improve its performance measurement and reporting system for several years, and has made some advances in data collection, but still has much to do before an integrated PMRS system is operational. The information that is presented in the Annual report is provided from the TPC data collection system. While the October 2002 report entitled Reporting on 2000-2001 Program Performance Results is an important first step, interviewees were not able to provide information on the extent to which TPC management has made use of the information in the report to inform decision making.

Even better is management's response to the 'internal audit' and 'evaluation report'.

An internal TPC audit was initiated to ensure the program meets the test of quality
administration and financial accountability. The audit was complemented by a program evaluation conducted with clients to assess overall program effectiveness. Both initiatives confirmed that: there are no cases of impropriety; TPC is a valuable and essential instrument; and in the spirit of continuous improvement, there are initiatives that will refine the program. In addition, the program evaluation recommended a mid-course re-alignment through a policy review to improve relevance and effectiveness.

Just think, this is the kind of thing that is going on in a department subject to the full scrutiny of Parliament and the Auditor General. I wonder what's happening in all those 'arms-length' foundations beyond such needless prying eyes. Who needs effective Whistleblowers Legislation or Access to Information laws that actually give access. We have the Liberal Party of Canada looking out after our best interests.

And you thought Freddy Krueger was scary. Excuse me, I have to go find my Teddy Bear.