It would really be better if I could get back to writing about primary health care in this province, as I’d hoped to, because lives are literally on the line. But it takes a while to line up those interviews, and, alas, the news gods keep interfering. So instead of talking about life-saving medical care, let’s talk about good parking.
No, really. That was one of the things brought up by Todd McCarthy, minister of public and business service delivery, when he announced on Monday that the province would be moving nine privately run ServiceOntario locations into big-box stores operated by Staples, the office-supplies retailer. McCarthy said that Staples locations proved attractive because, as well as offering some cost savings, they had a footprint across the province and were typically already in locations that were convenient, close to large populations, and with access to amenities ... like parking. Not to mention longer business hours.
The last one is a bit weird — if business hours are the concern for a government operation, it stands to reason that the government just might be able to do something about that. But to be honest, there’s nothing wrong with this plan. It’s a fine plan. It’s even a good plan, in a sense.
It’ll be controversial because there will always be those who reject any step toward privatization on principle, and God bless ’em. It won’t be particularly controversial outside the die-hard true believers, though, because arrangements like this are fairly routine. The last time I needed to mail a package, I went to my nearest Canada Post ... inside a Shoppers Drug Mart. Thousands (probably a lot more, come to think of it) of Ontarians in rural areas and smaller communities where the local population density does not warrant a full LCBO outlet have long purchased their booze from LCBO outlets inside commercial stores. These used to be known as LCBO “Agency” stories, but the program has apparently been rebranded as “LCBO Convenience Outlets,” which I’ll mark down for later ease of googling.
Oh, and, a particularly apt comparison for putting ServiceOntario centres inside larger private businesses — ServiceOntario already operates inside larger private businesses. The outlet closest to my house is an old-school, sole-purpose ServiceOntario location that occupies a unit in a shopping complex. But the nearest outlet to me that’s open on weekends is in the basement of a nearby Canadian Tire. I spent a few wonderful hours there just a few months ago, handling a bit of urgent business.
And it was fine. Just like mailing my packages from a Canada Post inside a Shoppers is fine. And buying a bottle of hooch from an LCBO rep inside a small-town grocery or convenience store is fine.
The problem the Ford government has here isn’t the plan. The plan is fine and proven. The problem the Ford government has here is its own credibility. It seems like every damned time the government tries to pull off some kind of arrangement with the private sector, it ends up faceplanting into some entirely self-inflicted scandal. The opposition is already raising questions about whether or not the Staples deal is going to save any money — the government will eat the costs of moving the outlets into the Staples locations, and that could easily wipe out any short-term savings. The government also sole-sourced the deal to Staples; it says it reached out to dozens of would-be partners and settled on Staples because it was the only one able to tick all the right boxes.
And you know what? Sure. Maybe! Entirely possible. But we’d have to be insane to grant the government the benefit of the doubt on this one, because this is precisely the kind of issue the Ford government screws up via back-scratching deals, family wedding invites, and opulent Vegas massages. This is an entirely workable idea, and it is entirely worth considering, and it is even the sort of thing that we should be considering more of. But the reality is, the very thought of it is making me cringe because this is exactly the kind of thing that’s one leaked staffer email away from being epically and utterly reversed amid a flurry of apologies and promises to do better.
To be clear: I don’t have any specific reason to think that this deal isn’t entirely above-board. I know of nothing unique to this situation that gives me pause. It’s the track record of this government as a whole that raises alarms. These guys aren’t good at figuring out how best to leverage the power of the private sector to improve the quality of life of Ontarians in ways that are ethical and beyond reproach. It’s something of a proven weakness of theirs, come to think of it.
And that’s particularly galling in this case, for two reasons. The first is that ServiceOntario is actually, in my experience, one of the better such government-service agencies. In my relatively recent lived experience, I’ve had to deal with municipal and/or regional service providers. The municipal and/or regional agencies have been a mixed bag, though I’ll say this: Toronto’s 311 system is good, getting better, and a very welcome addition to the city. My recent experience with federal service providers has been, again, a mixed bag, ranging from a high of “not as bad as expected” to a low of “considering leaving the country.”
The one that has been consistently — dare I say it? — good has been ServiceOntario. My in-person experience has been good. My online service has been good. And the one time I recently did have an issue, it was rapidly kicked up the chain of command and effectively and swiftly solved.
In a country with a lot of problems, ServiceOntario is something that actually, thank God, seems to be functioning well. And I really hope we don’t break it.
The second reason it’s a problem? Credibility matters. Public confidence matters. Faith in a government’s ability to successfully and ethically deliver on commitments is important, and the Ford government has spent years treating its own credibility as a piñata because it simply can’t seem to break itself of its own worst habits. On paper, the plan presented Monday ought to be an easy win: we’re talking about an effective agency being streamlined in a way that conforms with existing standards. It’s a hard one to screw up, by the standards of such things. And yet I more than half expect it to get screwed up. Why? Because it’s just what these guys do.
So let’s hope it doesn’t happen this time. It would be good on its own merits if this proved successful and the promised cost savings materialized. It would also be good if the government could take this opportunity to demonstrate that it can overcome its own bad habits and stick the landing on a not particularly complex initiative without burning through a few cabinet ministers and a chief of staff or two.
Fingers crossed, everyone. Let’s see what happens.
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