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Old Age Security program shows lack of accountability

Columnist
web1_TST-SH-Andre-Carrel

In November 2023, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada completed a report on federal programs to assist seniors. The programs examined were administered by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) over the period of April 2016 to March 2024, occasionally extending beyond that period “to gain a more complete understanding of the subject matter”.

This 25-page report must be read more than once to appreciate its message; it contains a litany of phrases such as “did not follow up”, “did not stay informed”, and “did not take the required action” in reference to program delivery. The following quotation is typical:

“According to [ESDC], a key activity of the Old Age Security (OAS) program is to conduct ongoing policy and legislation analysis to ensure that outcomes of the program are achieved and that the program meets the needs of seniors. We found that the department did not do this. The department could not demonstrate how it determined the basic payment levels under the program and whether the Old Age Security payment amount should be adjusted.”

The auditor extended the examination time-frame for OAS to include the period of the preceding Conservative government and found that the conditions noted above were already prevalent during that period. The cost of OAS payments and their administration amounted to $60.6 billion in 2020 alone. By 2045 these costs are projected to triple!

It should be reasonable to expect governments to ensure that the programs they deliver and administer, and for which they collect taxes, are monitored continuously, and that their performance is evaluated and documented to confirm that program expenditures achieve their intended objectives. Accountability is a democratic government’s preeminent responsibility, but is that where the buck must or should stop? We elect members to our House of Commons to hold governments to account and to monitor what governments do so that citizens may rest assured that their government’s program objectives are indeed met, and that we get value for the taxes we pay.

How is it possible that a major government program costing more than $60 billion per year can roll along, year after year for decades, without apparent concern by backbench MPs, government side or opposition, about said program’s unverified performance? Does culpability rest exclusively with the government? Should MPs worry about $60 billion programs meeting their stated objectives? Should MPs have to answer for their failure to hold governments to account? Must WE assume at least some responsibility for the way we are being governed by the people we have elected, for the way we govern ourselves?

We demand that governments do something about the high cost of food, housing, drugs, and education. We haggle over how much of a GST break we deserve as the government announces a border security program to the tune of one billion dollars to appease Mr. Trump. We demand that governments do something about X,Y and Z as we demand that our taxes be cut in step with announcements of new programs. We have allowed ourselves to drift toward a political culture where government is “them” and we are hard-working tax-paying innocent civilians.

Lost in this political quagmire is any sense of accountability. Old Age Security was introduced in 1952. After 70 years, does anyone care about achieving its objectives? Dare we blame the government, or should we look in the mirror?