I take it that one of the methodologies used in the audit was interviews with program managers. I think the Auditor General, at an appearance before the Standing Committee on Health, had some comment on this.
My sense is this. Program managers talk to senior managers within their branches. The question is whether the view of the program manager that there are inadequate resources is dispositive--that it's the final word on the issue. In other words, because a program manager says so, does it mean it's so?
I think the Auditor General pointed out that there's a tendency all over government, not just in regulatory programs, that if you ask a program manager whether they have enough resources, they might say, well, I could always use more resources. So I don't know. I think that's part of the Auditor General's point, that we should know better and that we need better information and planning systems to be able to assess this.
You can get into a debate, for example, on regulation. Let me give you a current example that we're grappling with now. There is a task force on trans fats. You can regulate trans fats, and it's a very legitimate thing to look at. I think it's something the government would consider: command and control regulations. The inspectors go in, and if they find a violation, they prosecute. But it's a very expensive way to do business.
On the other side, I was driving by a Kentucky Fried Chicken yesterday, and they have a sign that says, now with zero trans fats. Well, if fried chicken has zero trans fats, then maybe the marketplace is adjusting, maybe you don't need to go to full command and control regulation, and maybe there are other ways of regulating that.
The government will make a decision as to what the best thing is. But there are different ways of looking at this. A program manager may say, “I think I should be in there with all guns blazing”, so to speak. There may be other ways of looking at a problem. Education is a cheaper way of looking at a problem, and it may be fully effective in dealing with the regulatory problem at issue.