Government restructuring and program review

Program review

This document is an update on the government’s program review annoucements.

Click on the following links for an update of government’s restructuring, the reclassification and spending freezes and the actions that have been taken by the PSAC to date.

Program review

The government has announced that they will be undertaking ongoing Program Review. The Program review will be ongoing. The government announced that the Expenditure Review Committee will consider all government programs, human resource management, procurement capital management and other issues. Several components have reported that the departments for which their members work have already been involved in review and restructuring processes based on the reallocations demanded from the last Manley budget.

The government has announced that all program spending will be assessed against seven tests:

1. Public Interest Test - Does the program area or activity continue to serve the public interest
2. Role of Government Test - Is there a legitimate and necessary role for government in this program area or activity - Governance - who else is involved, is there overlap and duplication?
3. Federalism Test - Is the current role of the federal government appropriate, or is the program a candidate for realignment with the provinces?
4. Partnership Test - What activities or programs should or could be transferred in whole or in part to the private/voluntary sector? This is especially significant as the Prime Minister created a Parliamentary Secretary for Private-public partnerships.
5. Value for money Test - Are Canadians getting value for their tax dollars?
6. Efficiency Test - If the program or activity continues, how could its efficiency be improved? Does the program exploit all options for achieving lower delivery costs through intelligent use of technology, public-private partnership, third-party delivery mechanisms, and non-spending instruments?
7. Affordability Test - Is the resultant package of programs and activities affordable? If not, what programs or activities would be abandoned? How do program delivery costs compare to those in other jurisdictions and the private sector for similar activities?