No clue

Obviously, Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick skipped all the classes on public admin when he went to university.  Otherwise, he would never have dared criticize Auditor General Michael Ferguson because he would have known Mr. Ferguson was an Officer of Parliament and public servants do not criticize them.  Under any circumstances. 

But there was the egomaniacal Wernick denying the Phoenix pay system was, as Ferguson had described it, "an incomprehensible failure".  Hello Mike, buddy!  With tens of thousands of public servants being over-paid, under-paid, or not paid at all for the past three years it is definitely an incomprehensible failure.  This clown said it indicated "pervasive cultural problems in the federal public service" and that the chapter dealing with Phoenix in the auditor general's report was an "opinion piece".

After calling it an "opinion piece", meaning Mr. Ferguson basically had no clue about what was happening with Phoenix, the brilliant Mr. Wernick went on to say that the auditor general hadn't offered any solutions.  Whaaaat?!  If he only had "opinions", how could the AG suggest solutions?  And last time I checked, that's not his job, it's yours.

OMG!  This guy is delusional!  Talk about "The Emperor's New Clothes" this guy's entire wardrobe is missing.  And by the way, how do "cultural problems" eff up a pay system??  And also by the way, as head of the PCO, you're supposed to shape the culture to ensure it doesn't cause such huge problems.  But conversely, Wernick actually said public servants needed to be willing to take risks and become "more nimble".  Does taking risks mean deputy ministers should authorize the roll out of new pay systems before any trials or pilots have been undertaken?  Because that's exactly what these highly-paid dopes did to the peril of thousands. 

Shocked MP David Christopherson summed it up when he said either the clerk has his head buried in the sand, or the auditor general is off the rails.  Frankly, it can only be one or the other and it's obviously the former.  Just to confirm his nonsensical explanation, Wernick summed the still-not-fixed mess up this way:

"I think you have to look very deeply at the incentive structure, which is the one in which human beings act, and culture is shaped by incentives and disincentives.  And there are opportunities to create incentives and disincentives which reward innovation, creativity, or stifle it."

A gold star to anyone who has any clue what that gibberish means.

Ministerial accountability should have seen the minister's ass out the door long ago, with her deputy right behind it.  Sadly, the clerks under whom this would never have happened include Arnold Heney, Bob Bryce, Norman Robertson and Gordon Robertson.  Since their tenures, it has been a long line of flunkies, political appointments and know-nothings.