November 23, 2011
New research from the Mowat Shifting Gears series of papers.
Toronto – The Mowat Centre at the University of Toronto has released a timely research report, Fiscal Sustainability and the Future of Public Services, which provides guidelines to government on how to improve its ability to deliver high quality public services even in times of fiscal constraint.
The Shifting Gears Series, supported by KPMG Canada, finds that although Canada is in a relatively stable economic position, all levels of government should now be revisiting how they deliver public services. Government should be focusing on incentives, accountability, governance, transparency and evidence-based evaluation and measurement.
The new release is part of the Mowat Centre’s Shifting Gears series of research papers, which includes a recently released report suggesting potential fiscal savings in the health care sector (Fiscal Sustainability and the Transformation of Canada’s Healthcare System: A Shifting Gears Report, Falk-2011).
“Canadian governments should begin to fundamentally revisit how they deliver public services. The models they rely on are creaking under the weight of public expectations, entrenched stakeholder interest, and shrinking fiscal capacity. Old business models should be questioned,” says Matthew Mendelsohn, Director of the Mowat Centre.
“But due to significant short-term challenges and long-term structural constraints, time is actually at a premium and the time to act is now,” he adds.
The report outlines the steps governments can take to simultaneously bring down deficits and improve service delivery.
“These are leading practices from around the world that we can take and apply to find solutions to public sector fiscal problems,” says Jim Alexander, Associate Partner, KPMG.
“We can support decision makers with the relevant strategies and the supporting data they need to transform their organizations and create strong public services that delivering sustaining value for years to come.”
In addition to examining which strategies are delivering fiscal savings and improved service delivery, the report details the transformative approaches that governments have taken throughout the world to raise funds and deliver high-quality services at lower cost. It contains comparative analyses of the performance of other OECD countries and suggests which are most applicable in Canada.
“Recent global experience demonstrates that governments have the ability to deploy breakthrough technologies and fundamentally change their delivery models. Recent global experience also demonstrates the consequences of failing to do so. For those who believe in the future of public services, now is not the time for Canadians and their governments to hug the status quo,” says Mendelsohn.
Read the full report
