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2006 September Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
September 2006 Report—Chapter 1
Exhibit 1.3—Past audit observations—key management issues raised
In the Commissioner's 1998 Report, Chapter 3, Responding to Climate Change—Time to Rethink Canada's Implementation Strategy, we concluded that the failure to meet Canada's climate change commitments was primarily the result of poor planning and ineffective management. We recommended that the federal government take the lead, in collaboration with other levels of government and major stakeholders, in a determined national effort designed to achieve Canada's climate change commitments. This effort would take the form of a formal, results-based implementation plan with
- performance expectations,
- interim targets, and
- a monitoring system.
In the Commissioner's 2001 follow-up report, Chapter 6, Climate Change and Energy Efficiency: A Progress Report, we noted that the federal government had made some progress in developing a management structure for climate change, but none in providing comprehensive information to Parliament. We noted that the federal government needed to continue to
- clarify federal roles and responsibilities,
- develop a broader portfolio of measures to meet Canada's climate change commitments, and
- provide fuller information to Parliament.
In the Auditor General's 2000 Report, Chapter 20, Managing Departments for Results and Managing Horizontal Issues for Results, we recommended that the Treasury Board Secretariat play a stronger leadership role in horizontal issues, including ensuring that resources are available for co-ordination and management.
In the Auditor General's 2005 Report, Chapter 4, Managing Horizontal Initiatives, we noted that the insufficient attention the Privy Council Office and the Treasury Board Secretariat have paid to horizontal initiatives has caused weaknesses in
- horizontal governance,
- accountability, and
- co-ordination.