Flaws found in feds’ many public consultations; small biz tax changes top list
OTTAWA — The Trudeau government’s analysis of its extensive public consultation efforts has uncovered some flaws — and last year’s disastrous roll out of Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s controversial small business tax proposals is Exhibit A, internal documents show.
Ottawa has been dissecting its public outreach exercises in order to find challenges and lessons learned following the launch of hundreds of consultations over the Liberals’ first two years in office, according to briefing materials obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
The paperwork offers a look at Ottawa’s self-assessment at a time when, as one of the documents asserts, “public servants and elected officials have been consulting Canadians at an unprecedented scale.” At the half-way mark of the Liberals’ four-year mandate, 381 public consultations had been either completed, launched or planned, the document says.
The February 2018 documents list a number of concerns faced by many departments when it comes to public consultations.