Thinking about missed potential in the Office of the Auditor General

[admined]

This article describes the good work that the Auditor General has done (including busting open the ArriveCAN scandal). But the article also points out the mega-tonnes of waste and scandal that are being missed. 

Who decides what the AG examines? Are those decisions political? 

[Michael Hardner]

1 hour ago, admined said:

This article describes the good work that the Auditor General has done (including busting open the ArriveCAN scandal). But the article also points out the mega-tonnes of waste and scandal that are being missed. 

Who decides what the AG examines? Are those decisions political? 

I have been thinking about the AG for a long time.

That could be a starting point to open up government to actual public involvement, both in terms of budgets but also feedback on services.

[admined]

1 minute ago, Michael Hardner said:

I have been thinking about the AG for a long time.

That could be a starting point to open up government to actual public involvement, both in terms of budgets but also feedback on services.

It's interesting that the OAG website explicitly encourages the public to submit petitions concerning environmental issues, - to be forwarded to the appropriate ministers - but not on other topics. I had to dig pretty deep even to find mention of protocols for internal whistleblowers.

[Moonbox]

The problem with the auditor general is that the federal/provincial budgets are esoteric concepts to the average Canadian.  For all of the talk about how kitchen-table economics are the #1 issue in every election, voters have a terrible grasp of how public finances work and how they are affected by them.  

Having worked out of university as a financial advisor for a Big Bank, it's shocking to me how little even well-to-do Canadians know/care about markets, debt or even basic personal finance.  Outside of their little households, most people know almost nothing.    

 

[admined]

3 minutes ago, Moonbox said:

Having worked out of university as a financial advisor for a Big Bank, it's shocking to me how little even well-to-do Canadians know/care about markets, debt or even basic personal finance.  Outside of their little households, most people know almost nothing.    

Well I guess fighting that was supposed to be the job of the public school system and the media (i.e., CBC and TVO). But that really doesn't seem to be a big focus now (Translation: those institutions are, broadly speaking, far too consumed by ideology to worry about little things like financial literacy). 

New platforms for independent journalism (like Paul Wells, The Bureau, The Audit, and others) can certainly help.

[Moonbox]

The school system should teach financial literacy.  It's crazy that it doesn't.  You might learn about basic things like compound interest, but with very little context.  One of the best courses I took in high school was an "Entrepeneurship" elective.  The teacher was a hot mess and a drunk, but he was smart and he actually taught us about real-world things and how the economy worked.  

[admined]

Just now, Moonbox said:

The school system should teach financial literacy.  It's crazy that it doesn't.  You might learn about basic things like compound interest, but with very little context.  One of the best courses I took in high school was an "Entrepeneurship" elective.  The teacher was a hot mess and a drunk, but he was smart and he actually taught us about real-world things and how the economy worked.  

I used to teach (non-finance subjects) in high school. But every year I would try to take just an hour or so to talk about avoiding and managing debt, budgeting, cost-benefit analysis, and the basics of buy-and-hold investments. It really isn't hard. I learned those things as a kid from my parents and other responsible adults in my life. But a lot of kids don't.

[Moonbox]

Good parents will teach good money habits to their kids, but few will provide much financial literacy.  An hour or so in class is only going to do so much as well.  This should be a full-fledged course in high school, before kids get into the workforce and start accumulating debt. 

This should be a compulsory credit to ensure we have financially literate adults graduating, rather than children who cash-advance their first credit card on their way to an R9 at age 19.  🥴

[admined]

1 minute ago, Moonbox said:

This should be a compulsory credit to ensure we have financially literate adults graduating, rather than children who cash-advance their first credit card on their way to an R9 at age 19.

100% agree. But for the vast (and growing) proportion of Canadians who are already good and done with school (not to mention the CBC), there are helpful online resources available. And that's besides the endless free raw government and financial data out there waiting to be parsed and interpreted. 

[Moonbox]

The ability of the average Canadian to parse and interpret public financial data goes about as far as their ability to parrot whatever (insert online personality or politician) says on twitter etc. 

Neither Justin Trudeau, (who I'm convinced is economically illiterate) or Pierre Poilievre (who probably knows better but understands that the average mook doesn't) are offering fair or reasonable pictures to Canadians.  They're just selling talking points and slogans, and the bobbleheads that follow them slurp it up.  

I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done about the entrenched opinions and willful ignorance of Boomers etc, but we could definitely be trying to make sure the younger generations are better equipped.