About the only bureaucrat who can really embarrass our federal government is the Auditor General, and today she made her Fall 2009 report to Parliament. Via the Globe and Mail: Emergency response plan lacking. Excerpt:
The federal department that is supposed to guide Canada through pandemics, natural disasters and terrorist attacks is failing to assume its proper role and show that it acts as the lead authority in times of crisis, the Auditor-General said Tuesday.
“Public Safety Canada has not exercised the leadership necessary to co-ordinate emergency management activities, including critical infrastructure protection in Canada,” Sheila Fraser said in a report to Parliament.
As it stands, the federal government reacts to matters such as the H1N1 pandemic or major blackouts on a “case-by-case basis,” eight years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks highlighted the need for better responses to emergencies.Here's the relevant chapter of her report. She beats up the government on a lot of other issues too.
Unfortunately for Canada, these reports seem to operate on the assumption that "the floggings will continue until morale improves." The government of the day takes its lumps, promises to do better, and breaks that promise before the bruises have faded. So the next report is sure to be just as embarrassing.
