Mr. Speaker, government administration in Canada is in crisis. The federal public service must become smaller, work better and be more cost effective. If it were a private conglomerate it would be in receivership.
Public enterprise must focus on outputs, what gets done; make decisions transparent, accessible and reliable information; provide real incentives for performance and consequences for failure; establish constraints through modernized budget techniques; promote competition by enhancing consumer choice; and develop competitive benchmarks with the private sector using multiple suppliers.
Contracting out is favoured such as more non-profit organizations for social care. The federal public service can be smaller and provide services more competitively. Government must be more businesslike. We must change our expectations and let the public service concentrate on what it should do. Let it work to become smarter rather than larger.