Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I realize the clock is running down, so I will keep these comments brief. What this motion says is that the benchmarks, measurable goals and outcomes in this budget are inadequate and unacceptable for almost every department without exception.
I think there is no way to clearly measure how this government intends to spend eight hundred and some million dollars, and when they come back next year we will be in the same situation of how well did things go. If we did not have any clear goals and measurable outcomes, you will just have to take our word for it and we will get on with it.
Mr. Speaker, this is my fifth budget. And this has been an issue in almost every budget that I can recollect. I hope we do not have to be sitting here again in a year with the same concern.
Mr. Speaker, in the social program side, we have almost 60 percent of the budget under the social programs envelope, and they plan to do a lot of good work. They have many good intentions, but we are talking about spending government money and being able to measure the outcome of programs, and to measure the decisions and plans that the departments have brought forward.
Mr. Chairman, this is a motion with some substance, because while we are talking about business plans for 2001-2004, the message is, and it is reflected in every committee report in every department, that the goals and outcomes in there are inadequate.
It is somewhat of a puzzlement for me. The fifth time around we are still beating on this particular issue. Money is increasingly tight. We will have to be able to justify, and determine if we are spending money the right way. If we are not, then why not? How do we change it?
You can only do that if you measure it. You cannot get by on anecdotal information or gut feelings, perceptions, or what you heard at the coffee shop. You have to be able to demonstrate as a corporation what decisions are being made and which decisions did not in fact hold water.
If this was a business plan going to the banks and you had to justify for more money the next year, I would suggest, as it has been mentioned already, that the business plans and the budget be returned because they lack detail. I also suggest that the government and the departments would reject business plans put forward by non-government organizations and agencies if they said they would spend the money they receive in the same vague way that the government outlines how they are going to spend their money.
I am in support of this motion. It is a very important one. It is a fundamental one. It cuts across all government departments and agencies, and one that, for me, I look for all the time. It has been recognized by the AOC as a significant issue. Thank you.