Steward of spending

By René Lewandowski
Photograph: Tony Fouhse

By all accounts the new comptroller general is a team player and a good salesman, and he knows how to get the job done

Charles-Antoine St-Jean has his own way of managing his career. Although he was making a very good living in the private sector as head of the public sector department of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (now Capgemini), he took the plunge into the realm of public service in June 2004. As comptroller general of Canada he is now working a lot more hours with a significantly reduced salary.

However, it wasn’t a masochistic impulse that motivated this white-haired, blue-green-eyed, 51-year-old CA to make a financial sacrifice. “I wanted to do something else and take up new challenges,” St-Jean says, and because he had a longtime dream to work for the public good. And over the next few years, St-Jean will have plenty of opportunity to show what he can do.

In the wake of the scandal-plagued federal sponsorship program, which paid out millions in advertising contracts to Montreal ad agencies to promote Canadian unity, the Martin government re-established the Office of the Comptroller General as a distinct office to ensure more effective control over ministerial expenditures and more rigorous stewardship of public funds. In addition, the comptroller general is responsible for analyzing and approving government spending and ensuring new program costs are properly evaluated before ministers make their pitch to cabinet. That the government’s goal is ambitious was evident when St-Jean’s appointment was announced last year: Finance Minister Ralph Goodale indicated then that more effective control over spending should save $3 billion annually within four years.

“Professionally speaking, [the job] is the greatest challenge of my life,” says St-Jean, who is well aware of the monumental task in front of him.

Although he was immediately tempted by the government’s offer when approached in early 2004, he nonetheless thought about it for a month or so before accepting. He consulted with friends and former colleagues, including Sheila Fraser, Canada’s auditor general. “I told him that working in the public sector involved a number of sizeable challenges,” says the auditor general. “One of these would be to instill a new culture government-wide. Public servants don’t pay enough attention to managing and controlling internal finances; they’re more concerned about setting policies.”

Before accepting the new job, St-Jean wanted to be certain he understood the politicians’ intentions for the role of comptroller general. He met with senior officials and asked them to clarify their expectations. Was the government looking for short-term, quick-fix solutions or long-term solutions that would address the root of the problem? Had it been the former scenario, the job would have been out of the question. “I’m here to develop long-term solutions,” he says.

And thinking long term is important, as implementing change in the public service is not an easy task: its structure is complex, with many agencies and departments under different authority with different accountability regimes. All changes must be done publicly and, like most employees, public servants can be sensitive to criticism and change. “There are some pretty serious pitfalls,” says former auditor general of Canada Denis Desautels, who claims St-Jean’s predecessors weren’t particularly successful.

But anyone familiar with St-Jean’s record has little doubt he will succeed. Even the opposition in Ottawa rallied around the Liberal’s choice. “His résumé is impressive,” commented Conservative MP John Williams. Over the past 30 years, St-Jean has held a number of accounting, auditing and consulting positions in Canada and Europe; first, in 1976, with Clarkson Gordon and then with Ernst & Young after the two firms merged. In 2000, he was appointed a vice-president of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, where he headed the public sector department.

“He likes a challenge and given what’s happening in Ottawa, he’s the right person for the job,” says friend and former Ernst & Young coworker André Bussière.

St-Jean has never belonged to a political party, although he is very familiar with the workings of government. Over the years he has carried out a number of projects for such federal departments as Defence, Employment and Immigration, was seconded to work for such Crown corporations as Canada Post and Radio-Canada and built up an extensive network of contacts. 

And he reaps both personal and professional admiration from former co-workers. “He’s a model of integrity and his professional ethics are exceptional,” says St-Jean’s former boss Alain Beaudry, Cap Gemini Canada president. “Charles-Antoine St-Jean is not only a very good auditor,” he says, “but he also excels in other disciplines, particularly information technology and management. At Cap Gemini Ernst & Young he had the opportunity to work on major projects, many of which might have been less successful if he hadn’t been there to find solutions or provide advice. He’s very quick to understand complex situations.”

As a manager, St-Jean has the reputation of being a team player. Both a diplomat and a good salesman, it’s not hard for him to convince clients and motivate staff. “He always tries to find win-win solutions, but he can also put his foot down when necessary,” says Louis O’Brien, a vice-president with Canada Post.

“He also seems to have the knack of forging relationships. I don’t think he has any enemies,” adds Bussière.

St-Jean was born and grew up in Granby, Que., in the Eastern Townships, and now lives in Gatineau. His father was a surgeon and his mother a homemaker with a large family to look after. The third of seven children, two of whom are now deceased, St-Jean moved to Ottawa in 1972 to learn English and study science at the University of Ottawa. However, he soon changed his mind and switched to the accounting stream of the administration program. It wasn’t that he had a particular liking for figures, “which are just a language,” he says, but he wanted to work with people. The career prospects in this field especially appealed to him.

As a student, he had a philosophical bent, questioning things, which he still has today. According to Desautels, who was his auditing professor at university: “He’s someone who’s always trying to understand the why of things and the logic behind accounting principles.” St-Jean does not do things just because it’s the prescribed way, he adds.

St-Jean joined Clarkson Gordon in Ottawa in 1976 as a student and in 1978 obtained his CA designation. Three years later he moved to Brussels with Peat Marwick (now KPMG). On returning to Canada, he rejoined Clarkson Gordon in 1981 (which later became Ernst & Young), where he worked in auditing for a few years before beginning the move into management consulting. By the late ’80s much of his work was with the public sector in Canada and abroad.

When not working, St-Jean is likely on a golf course, on the ski slopes, has his nose in a book or is enjoying a movie, but most of his spare time is spent with his wife, Ewa, and his two daughters aged 18 and 24. Although he keeps weekends free and takes vacations, his busy schedule doesn’t leave much room for leisure activities. Up at 6:30 a.m. and seldom home before 9 p.m., St-Jean has in fact changed his habits. “At Cap Gemini Ernst & Young,” Beaudry says, “Charles-Antoine was a workaholic, but definitely not an early riser.” He didn’t usually start his day before 9 a.m., preferring to work later in the evening. “Since I started at seven, we had to coordinate our schedules to meet,” Beaudry says.

The new comptroller general is said to have endless reserves of patience. “And he’ll need them in his new job,” says Desautels. One example: in the early 1990s, when St-Jean was Beaudry’s boss on a project at Ernst & Young. It was a management consulting project for Employment and Immigration Canada, and Beaudry’s first assignment with the federal public sector. The pressure was on to deliver the goods. “Charles-Antoine was very patient with me,” he says. “He took the time to clearly explain the dynamics of the situation and the organizational stakes for [Employment and Immigration].”

However, being patient doesn’t mean being unrealistic. “He has a very clear grasp of what’s possible, but won’t wait very long for anything he thinks can’t be done,” says Bussière. But he is fiercely determined when he believes in something. A number of years ago, when the young St-Jean was assigned to the auditor general’s office as part of a program to audit excess payments of employment insurance benefits, St-Jean didn’t think twice about visiting regional employment insurance offices and did so with enthusiasm. Sometimes he even rented a small bush plane to reach remote regions like northern Quebec. “We didn’t expect that much of our employees,” says Bussière.

But will patience and determination be enough to succeed at his new job? One thing is certain: St-Jean has a solid game plan that he drafted after spending his first three months analyzing the government apparatus. Over the next few years, he wants to instill a new “challenge” culture in all departments.

“Too often,” he says, “public servants are so committed to their programs that they forget about the financial impact. We have to challenge them and make them ask questions such as: Are we spending too much? What exactly are we trying to achieve? Have we correctly evaluated the risks? The idea is to get the most out of available resources,” he says.

St-Jean has devised a new model to attain his objective. If his plan is approved, comptrollers of major government departments will act somewhat like corporate CFOs.

“The old model was too centralizing,” he points out. “This one will allow us to clarify everyone’s roles and responsibilities.” (In the old model,  large departments had a senior financial officer responsible for HR, IT, real estate, administration and finance. That person had support from a full-time financial officer and reported to a deputy minister. In the new model, in major departments a senior executive will lead in a capacity like that of CFO, focussing on managing the financial affairs of the department and reporting to a deputy minister, but he or she will have a formalized relationship with the comptroller general.)

St-Jean has also proposed more independent audit committees for all major government departments. Here too, a decision should be reached sometime this summer. These committees would be made up of former public servants, people from outside the civil service, and former corporate leaders and possibly one member from a government department other than the one being audited. All members would be expected to be financially literate and would be able to ask questions and challenge internal auditors.

Even if his plan is approved, he will have to be pretty persuasive. And there’s no guarantee of success. “There’s a difference between ratifying a plan and winning people over,” says St-Jean. In some departments, government officials are not in favour of these changes. They feel they are being singled out, that they are seen as guilty by association, and that their accountability might be impaired.

Others simply do not see the point. “These are normal reactions,” says St-Jean’s boss, Wayne Wouters, secretary of the Treasury Board. “You can’t make such major changes and expect everyone to be enthusiastic about them. That takes time.”

“To convince the public servants, he’ll need good interpersonal and political skills,” says Desautels. “He will also have to convince everyone that his plan is logical and achievable.”

Canada Post’s O’Brien witnessed St-Jean’s political skills at work when St-Jean was “lent” to the Crown corporation in the mid-’90s. His role was to develop a five-year plan and manage the annual budget-making process. St-Jean was responsible for the investment plan, specifically for making sure resources were allocated to the right places. And with about 20 vice-presidents, each vying for their piece of the pie, this was no easy task. Yet he managed to win most of them over. “He knew how to back up his decisions and took the time to explain them,” says O’Brien, the corporation’s comptroller at the time.

Be that as it may, this time the heights he has to scale are a lot greater. Not counting transfers to the province, we’re talking about estimates of roughly $70 billion a year — more than 15 times Canada Post’s budget.

Will he meet the challenge? At the very least, he will be able to find comfort in the thought that he fulfilled his dream of serving the public. And now, more than a year in this complex environment where things take more time than elsewhere, he sums up the job so far: “We’re making progress.” He says, you try to do three things at once: learn the job, do the job, change the job.

Key responsibilities of the Office of the Comptroller General set financial, accounting and auditing standards and policies for the government of Canada; oversee all government spending, including review and sign-off on new spending initiatives; provide advice and guidance to departmental comptrollers (senior financial officers) on sound financial management and administrative practices and procedures; manage and conduct internal audit operations for small agencies that do not have their own internal audit capacity; modernize the government’s financial management suite of policies; provide leadership to the public service, through the financial community, focusing on the need to ensure and enforce appropriate financial controls and cultivate sound resource stewardship at all levels across the federal public service; nurture and manage the professional development of the financial community, including establishing accreditation and certification standards and advising on the financial management modules of public service learning curriculum; approve the appointment of all departmental comptrollers. Other measures the government is taking to strengthen public-sector management include: undertaking, through the Expenditure Review Committee, reviews of government expenditures and management in a number of areas, including procurement and contracting, information technology and corporate and administrative services. This work will result in the identification, within four years, of savings of at least $3 billion annually for ongoing investments in the priorities of Canadians;  strengthening internal audit and evaluation; introducing modern, timely, enterprise-wide financial and HR information systems to track all spending and provide effective tools for effective scrutiny and decision-making. Source: Treasury Board of Canada

René Lewandowski is a freelance journalist in the Montreal area