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This proposal seeks to establish the position of Evaluator General in Canada, an independent advisor to Parliament who would assess the performance and effectiveness of government policies and programs. The Evaluator General would provide trusted advice based on evidence from program evaluations, research, and other sources. This would improve accountability, inform decision-making, and address the challenges of information overload and misinformation.
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An Evaluator General for Canada Overview of the Proposal
Supporting Our Parliamentarians Members of Parliament have always had heavy responsibilities: • Dealing with issues in their constituency • Proposing legislation • Participating in debates in the House of Commons • Working on Parliamentary Committees • … and much more. They often need trusted advice from non-political experts who report directly to Parliament.
Agents of Parliament These independent, expert advisors are referred to as Agents (or Officers) of Parliament. The first position of Agent of Parliament, the Auditor General for Canada, was created in 1878, 140 years ago. The Auditor General was Parliament’s only Agent until 1920, when the position of Chief Electoral Officer was established.
Informing parliamentarians, the media and the public The diagram on the next page illustrates relationships between Agents of Parliament and the following groups: • All parliamentarians • Members of the governing party • The media • The Canadian public. Agents are sometimes called “watch dogs” since their major role is to ensure that the government in power is behaving responsibly.
Canadian Public The media Issues of concern Reports from the Agent Agent of Parliament Parliamentarians Cabinet Governing Party
Three more Agent of Parliament positions were created in the 1900s Commissioner of Official Languages (1970) Privacy Commissioner (1977) Commissioner on Access to Information (1983)
And another four have been established in this century Parliamentary Budget Officer (2006) Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner (2007) Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (2007) Commissioner of Lobbying (2009)
Evaluator General (proposed) 2020 Commissioner of Lobbying Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Parliamentary Budget Officer 2000 Commissioner on Access to Information Privacy Commissioner Commissioner of Official Languages Timeline 1950 Chief Electoral Officer 1900 Auditor General
Two of the Agents of Parliament cover government programs and policies The Auditor General advises Parliament primarily on the propriety of government spending on programs and policies. The Parliamentary Budget Officer advises primarily on the accuracy of government’s estimates of the cost of programs, policies or purchases.
But neither advises Parliament on the performance of policies or programs Members of Parliament should be able to obtain advice from an Evaluator General on the evidence that a given government policy or program is achieving, or is likely to achieve, the desired objectives. Sources of evidence include program or policy evaluations, scientific research, traditional knowledge and others, such as investigative journalism.
An Evaluator General: Why now? • Rapid global escalation of accessible information leading to information overload • Increased de-contextualizing of evidence via Tweets, sound bites and other truncated messaging that leads to unbalanced information • Misinformation being circulated worldwide.
How would it work? An MP, a group of MPs, or the Evaluator General would propose examining the evidence on performance of a major government policy or program. The Evaluator General would determine the feasibility of delivering advice in view of current assignments and resources available. Once committed to an investigation, the Evaluator General would assign staff to examine the government’s evidence and to locate relevant evidence worldwide, assess data quality and develop a balanced report.
… How would it work? The Evaluator General’s staff would include experts in program evaluation, scientific research, traditional knowledge and other methods of obtaining evidence on the performance of programs or policies. Staff would specialize in global information retrieval and assessment of data validity and reliability. They would have the capacity to extract evidence from multiple studies on a given topic. When necessary, they would collect original data through surveys, interviews and analysis of statistics.
Who would get reports from the Evaluator General? Reports would first be peer reviewed by experts in assessing program models, program performance questions and quality of evidence. The reports would then be made available to all parliamentarians and the public.
How much would an Office of the Evaluator General cost? $2.0 million to get started. Comparison budgets: - $3.4 million, Parliamentary Budget Office - Office of the Auditor General, $78 million - $4 billion or more, federal government funding for scientific research.
Who would the Evaluator General report to? As an Agent of Parliament, the Evaluator General would report to the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Steps • A political party or an individual MP champions the idea • An Evaluator General Act is drafted • Parliamentarians review and amend the Act • The Act is reviewed and amended by Senators • The final version of the Act is approved by Parliament and then by the Governor General • Recruiting of an Evaluator General begins.
The Evaluator General concept around the world In Australia, the Labor Party has recently promised to create an Evaluator General position if it wins the next election. In France, a parliamentary working group has in June 2018 recommended creation of an autonomous Parliamentary Evaluation Agency.
