Information & Ethics Committee on March 27th, 2012

[The Chair, NDP, Jean Crowder]

Mr. Dusseault, your time is up. Merci beaucoup.

Mr. Carmichael, for five minutes.

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good morning, Commissioner, and thank you for your appearance here today. I think you're helping to open the windows for us in understanding what you're dealing with every day. Obviously your life has become a lot more complex in the past couple of years.

I would like to understand, though, the IBM report. I don't know how active this report is in your day-to-day planning. I take it that it's an important part of what you're doing today. Is this for projections, etc., and dealing with some reductions?

I looked at the 2010-11 inventory you referred to with a total inventory at year-end of 1,853, projected to be 2,153 in 2011-12 . What is your actual number? Do you know where you are today in terms of real numbers and dealing with those projections?

[Suzanne Legault]

We're at 1,863 at the end of this fiscal year. This is an important point to make because this year we weren't as successful as the last two years.

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

Successful in closing?

[Suzanne Legault]

Yes, in terms of closing cases.

The fiscal year is not finished but I am expecting we'll be at about 1,500 closed, with 1,500 received, so this year we're about even. There are two main reasons for that this year. One is that we had a lot of illnesses this year at the OIC. Our demographics have caught up with us. Many people had operations or interventions or spouses who were ill. It was strange, anyway. So we've had a decrease in the number of people. Total complaints closed at the end of this fiscal year will come to about 1,500. It's also a symptom of the complexity of the files this year. We're already feeling that. Total inventory at year's end will be about 1,800.

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

Okay, so you're down about 25% in your closings.

[Suzanne Legault]

Yes, according to this projection, which was done over the course of the summer and early fall.

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

I understand, and I won't go back through the deficit planning. But in that IBM report, I was interested in your resource projections.

I wonder if you can tell us where you're at. In the 2011-12 resource projection, you talk about numbers of investigators—it's under operations, page 12. I'm curious about your staffing levels. I take it this year the 2011-12 projection is an accurate number.

[Suzanne Legault]

Yes.

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

It looks like you're balancing your legal requirements with partials this year and next year, and then in 2013-14 you take a reduction of two.

[Suzanne Legault]

I'll see how it goes. Based on what I'm seeing now, it's making our investigations a lot more efficient.

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

You mean having a legal—?

[Suzanne Legault]

I'm talking about having a stronger legal component with the more complex cases. It's working well. I'm going to see how it goes.

My general counsel is not here today, but Emily McCarthy, whom I hired this year, has done an outstanding job, and it's making a big difference.

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

Having a varied talent pool is always important. So it's a function of skill reallocation?

[Suzanne Legault]

Yes.

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

With the deficit planning in place, your 39 investigators are maintained. We'll wait and see what happens but it looks as if that stays strong. Your leadership is at five and that stays consistent. Total investigative staff remains strong at 44.

So where are you taking the hit with respect to personnel and getting these cases closed?

[Suzanne Legault]

It's been on the internal services side. What I've been doing, mostly, is looking at the executive, and trying to reduce the number of EXs I have in the organization. So the remaining ones are working harder.

I have a director of information management who left this year and I haven't renewed that position. I have a director of systemic issues, and I'm looking to integrate that function with the core of the investigation, while moving these investigators under the assistant commissioner. That may save me another EX-1. I have a special adviser who is retiring at the end of this fiscal year. This was a special assignment program and it's a high salary, so this position is not going to be renewed. Those are examples of savings I've made.

I have an EX-1 and an FI-4 in the financial services section, and I will keep only one of those two. I had an assistant commissioner in corporate services; I have not renewed that position. I am going to staff a DG of corporate services instead, and I'm streamlining the corporate services so that they're going to do only corporate services. I'm trying to maximize the streamlining so as to put more emphasis on the investigative function. I had a policy person at an EC-6 level and this position was cut and repositioned. These are just a few of the examples of salary savings we've made this year.

[The Chair, NDP, Jean Crowder]

Great. Thank you, Mr. Carmichael, your time is well up.

Because we have a second commissioner coming before us, I'm going to stop the questions.

I want to ask the commissioner for one point of clarification. You had indicated in your presentation that your office is being required to move, so this isn't a voluntary thing.

[Suzanne Legault]

I'm having discussions with Public Works and Government Services Canada about the definition of a forced move because the lease at the building where my office is located has been allocated to another department. So we were asked to move by the end of this lease, but we have no money to move at this point so we're waiting for the identification of a source of funds.

If this move takes place, we will be relocating to Gatineau with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Elections Canada, and perhaps the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. These things are in the works, but we don't know at this point.

[The Chair, NDP, Jean Crowder]

There is no money at this point.

[Suzanne Legault]

We certainly have no money to do that.

[The Chair, NDP, Jean Crowder]

On behalf of the committee I want to thank you very much for appearing before us.

Because these are estimates, we have to go to a vote on the estimates.

JUSTICE

Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada

Vote 40—Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada - Program expenditures..........$10,349,000

(Vote 40 agreed to on division)

[The Chair, NDP, Jean Crowder]

We will suspend for two minutes to allow for set-up for the next commissioner. Once again, thank you very much, Madame Legault.

[The Chair, NDP, Jean Crowder]

Welcome back, committee members.

I call Vote 15 under Parliament.

I want to welcome the Commissioner of Conflict of Interest and Ethics. Thank you very much, Ms. Dawson.

I call debate. Ms. Dawson, we'll turn to you first.

[Mary Dawson, Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner]

Madam Chair and honourable members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to appear before you as you consider our budgetary submission for the 2012-13 main estimates.

With me this morning are Lyne Robinson-Dalpé, Assistant Commissioner for Advisory and Compliance, and Denise Benoit, Director of Corporate Management.

I would like to present briefly the operational and internal management activities that are funded by the $7.1 million being requested in the 2012-13 estimates.

My office administers two regimes: the Conflict of Interest Act for public office holders and the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons—which together are intended to ensure that public officials, whether elected or appointed, are not in a conflict of interest.

The general rules of the act on avoiding conflict of interest apply to some 3,100 public office holders who are full- and part-time appointees of the Government of Canada. Of this group, some 1,100 are defined as reporting public office holders. They must meet the reporting and public disclosure provisions of the act and are also prohibited from holding controlled assets and taking part in certain outside activities. These reporting public office holders include ministers, parliamentary secretaries, ministerial staff, and senior government appointees such as deputy ministers, heads of crown corporations, and members of federal boards. Ministers and parliamentary secretaries are subject to further obligations to ensure they are not in conflict of interest.

The code applies to all 308 members of the House of Commons, including those who are also ministers and parliamentary secretaries. The committee on procedure and House affairs oversees the administration of the members' code.

Under the Parliament of Canada Act, I am required to submit two annual reports to Parliament by June 30 each year—one concerning my activities under the act and one under the code. In addition to reviewing my activities, I have taken the opportunity to highlight in these reports issues and concerns I have in relation to the act and the code.

I also submit a list of sponsored travel by members to the Speaker to be tabled in the House of Commons by March 31 each year. In fact, I think that was just tabled. My office is currently fully staffed with 50 employees, and we have significantly reduced the personnel turnover experienced in previous years. As a matter of fact, only one person has left my office in the past 12 months to pursue interests in the private sector.

We are organized into several divisions of which the largest is advisory and compliance, accounting for approximately one third of my staff. This group is responsible for reviewing confidential reports of assets, liabilities, and activities; preparing records of publicly declarable information; and maintaining public registries. To ensure that ongoing staff needs are met, this division has set up a personnel development program. The assistant commissioner of this group is here with us today, as I noted, Lyne Robinson-Dalpé.

The reports and investigations division is responsible for leading investigations into alleged breaches of the act and code, and coordinating the preparation of our annual reports. Legal services plays a critical role in investigations, and also provides legal advice to all the divisions of my office and to myself.

The work of the office is supported by proactive research and communications initiatives, which are coordinated by the policy, research, and communications division. This division coordinates our dealings with Parliament, public communications, and media relations, as well as external relations. It also compiles needed research and contributes to policy development.

Finally, the corporate management section, headed up by Denise Benoit, who is also here to my right, is responsible for our internal procedures and management systems. Her team oversees personnel and information technology issues, our budget, procurement, and management of our facilities, including security.

We have put in place, and will continue to put in place, administrative efficiencies to improve our operations and ensure that we are better able to help public office holders and members meet their obligations under the act and the code.

Among these, is the launch in the coming days of a new integrated case management system to deal even more effectively with information related to public office holders and members of the House of Commons. We are also developing service standards for client service and public communications. This will ensure that we are working efficiently and providing timely responses to requests for information or advice.

Overall, the work of my office is focused on prevention, not punishment. My experience is that people want to comply with the rules. The primary goal of my office is help them comply and help them meet their obligations under the act and the code.

Education is a big part of my work, and I pursue a wide range of communications, education, and outreach activities. This past fall, I made presentations to the caucuses of parties with official status regarding the code, and where relevant, the act. Members from my office meet with ministers and their staff, as well as with other organizations whose members are subject to the act, to ensure that people are familiar with the requirements they must meet under the act and the code.

We also investigate and report on cases of alleged non-compliance. Our investigatory activities can be quite unpredictable and complex. Since my office was set up in July 2007, I have released 14 investigation reports under the act or the code.

I submit my reports on examinations under the act to the Prime Minister and bring reports on my inquiries under the code to the House of Commons. All of these reports are made public and are available on the office website. In these reports, where appropriate, I have made comments that go beyond the investigation at hand, and I point to gaps in the regimes or to challenges I have faced in administering the rules.

We are currently involved in a number of investigations, several of which are self-initiated. I follow set procedures in dealing with complaints and investigations. There are other cases that are under evaluation.

This investigatory work takes a certain amount of time and resources. I take very seriously information reported in the media or brought to my attention in any other way. We get numerous inquiries from the general public, and we monitor media reports. Of those that have led to an examination or inquiry, roughly half were by request and half were on my own initiative.

As for my budget, my office has planned expenditures of $7.1 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year. This amount has remained unchanged for the last five fiscal years. I would like to point out that this past year, as a result of our having a full staff complement, was the first time since we began operations in July 2007 that we fully spent our salary budget of $4.5 million. The first few years we were setting up, and expenses were lower. We are now fully set up and stable.

The non-salary budget of $1.8 million is used primarily to cover the cost of arrangements for services in the areas of finance, information technology, and compensation, and to support the day-to-day operations of the office. I expect a lapse of approximately 5% of my operating budget for this fiscal year.

The liquidation of severance allowances accumulated by employees could put additional pressure on the salary envelope of the office, if we decide to follow the trend being set in the public service. Given that the office has no room in its budget to cash-manage the payment of severance allowances, we would propose using the supplementary estimates or seeking reimbursement of eligible pay-list expenditures from Treasury Board to cover these one-time payments, should they happen.

We have also made some investments in our information technology infrastructure. Encryption boxes were purchased to ensure continued protection of information collected and maintained by the office. As mentioned earlier, a new integrated case-management system was developed over the last 12 months to replace an aging application. Also, the infrastructure behind the physical security system needed to be upgraded to meet the standards of the House of Commons, which has taken responsibility for the security system. These non-routine expenditures should lead to long-lasting improvements in systems used by the office.

We're mindful of the budgetary constraints impacting all federal organizations at this time. We regularly and carefully monitor our spending and ensure that our financial practices adhere to standard government practices. We have found efficiencies within our operations to ensure that available resources are directed to the activities that are central to achieving our mandate.

But there is an element of uncertainty in our operations. For example, we cannot control the number or complexity of the investigations we may have to undertake under the act or the code. This can require focusing our resources in that area. These uncertainties may affect the resources we need to fulfill our mandate as we move forward. To date, however, we have successfully managed within the existing envelope and plan to maintain the current level of expenditure.

On our website you will find our reports on annual expenditures for travel, hospitality, and conferences; our annual financial statements; and our quarterly financial reports. While my office is not required to disclose this information I have done so, as I believe it to be a good corporate practice to follow the principles of transparency and accountability.

I am also pleased to report that for the first time, in 2010-11, financial statements of my office were audited by an independent third party, KPMG, and that no concerns were raised with established procedures and information.

Thank you, once more, for inviting me to appear before the committee to discuss the main estimates. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.