Mr. Chairman, I offered it as an example of the type of question that might come up in an evaluation that could be relevant to performance.
It should be the case that when a program is developed and adopted, at the outset, the appropriate federal and provincial analysis is done. In principle, the Government of Canada shouldn't engage in programs for which it does not have a jurisdictional responsibility, but there are of course many shared jurisdictions in Canada.
Certainly in my field, our work with the provinces is absolutely critical. An evaluation can expose factors of the relationship that can be as simple as how well things are working. A smaller province may not have the capacity that a larger province has and it may rely on us to carry a bigger load. It may not be the case for all programs, but it could be the case for some programs. That type of thing could come to the surface in an evaluation.
On the other hand, there may be deeper questions. Over time provinces may not have had the capacity or the interest or it could be that the federal government has not had the capacity in a particular area. Something that was true 20 years ago for an older program may not be quite the case today.
Those are the types of adjustments to programs that sometimes involve the federal-provincial relationship. An evaluation can be very useful in analyzing and bringing that to the attention of senior managers.