Information & Ethics Committee on May 1st, 2012

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

You just want the metrics to roll over—

[Karen Shepherd]

You could start planning trends. Instead of looking for the document on the system, which is kept up to date, it would be right there at anyone's disposal at any given time.

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

What's the timing on that technology?

[Karen Shepherd]

We're working right now as part of a group that's looking at putting in a case management cluster to see if we can move something forward on that.

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

How are you preparing for the operational audit of reviews and investigations in the case management system within that? Does that affect it at all?

[Karen Shepherd]

I'm not sure I understand the question.

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

Don't you have, as part of your mandate, monitoring the operational reviews of each of the groups?

[Karen Shepherd]

In terms of doing internal audits, we've done an internal audit on the financial controls. We are looking at doing one this year on the lobbyist registration system. I'd like to have the case management system in place for about a year before I actually do an internal audit on the investigations caseload.

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

How much time do I have, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, NDP, Pierre-Luc Dusseault]

You have three and a half minutes left.

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

In terms of outreach and education, you talk about 20% of your budget and seven staff members going toward that. I wonder if you could talk about what they work at, what they accomplish. Is this at the lobbyist level? Is it at the public office holder level? Where do you spend the greatest amount of your budget in that area?

[Karen Shepherd]

When you are looking at it, it's like seven full.... That includes part of my time and so on.

Last year there was a lot of work done on the website. For a small team, there was a lot work. I'm very impressed. If you have a chance, you should check out the website. It's very easy to use and manoeuvre around on it.

A lot of effort goes into the research area, the questions that come in on a regular basis from lobbyists, public office holders, and others looking for information. This is the group that provides that. Also, my policy work is in there as well.

There is quite a bit of effort that goes into doing any of the presentations that I do, or that any of my staff may do, for example, with regard to the presentation on Thursday to the parliamentarians. There's background material. There is constant activity going on in the area by some very dedicated individuals and quite a limited staff.

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

When you make a presentation to the parliamentarians—we're talking about their staff, I think—do you get a good turnout for that? Is it well received?

[Karen Shepherd]

This will be the second one that I'm doing. I would say the first one had a decent turnout and it was well received. I hope that's why I'm coming back.

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

I would hope so. I think all parliamentarians would suggest that educating us and assuring we're doing the job right is a very important part of what you do.

As a wrap-up, then, maybe you can talk for a minute about the main challenges facing your office and how you are adapting to those challenges. I know you have made a change in personnel. Where do you see the biggest challenge in the next year?

[Karen Shepherd]

The challenge will be with continuing to get the message out and to get lobbyists registered.

If there are any amendments coming out of the legislation, that will require us to refocus our efforts to make sure the information is out there and determine what we may need to do.

I was asked a question by the honourable member about resources that might be needed for some of these amendments, so I could see the legislative review being quite a focus for us. We will be working on some of the internal audits in the system as well, and that takes resources.

[René Leblanc, Deputy Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying]

If I may, I would also add that the lobbyists registration system contains a wealth of information. One of our goals this year is to make this available to as many people as possible.

We found from focus groups and surveys that the information was not as accessible as users would have liked. There's a huge project going on with regard to improving search functions and making the data from the lobbyists system available.

[The Chair, NDP, Pierre-Luc Dusseault]

I am sorry, but I have to interrupt you because your time is up.

Mr. Boulerice has the floor for five minutes.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Commissioner Shepherd and Mr. Leblanc, thank you for joining us today. As always, it is a pleasure to have you here with us.

I would just like to start with a short preamble. Today, we are looking at the main estimates, and what concerns your organization is the issue of lobbyists' registration. There has actually been an increase from last year. There has been an increase in education, research and internal services. However, this little document, as interesting as it may be, does not really say much. But this other document is trying to say something.

Actually, we are surprised when we look at the overall situation of your offices and people who are there to check whether the work is done properly and with honesty. For example, over the next three years, cuts are anticipated for the Auditor General of Canada, Elections Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner and the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada. There are also cuts affecting the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying. Those cuts are not huge, but it is still money that you have to come up with over the next three years. In fact, $200,000 from a budget of just over $4 million is still substantial.

Could you tell me what impact the Conservative government's budget choices will have on your ability to do your work properly?

[Karen Shepherd]

Well, we looked at the budget in terms of a 5% cut. I wanted to make sure that we had the necessary resources to maintain a registry in order to be able to fulfill our mandate in education, for example. But it is equally important for me to have the resources to conduct investigations and to do everything we need to do in terms of compliance measures.

So that has not changed. The 5% in cuts comes out of developing the registry. I am actually able to fulfill my mandate with the 5% budget cuts. But I cannot develop the registry over the next few years. However, I have kept the resources I need to conduct public investigations.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

When you talk about developing the registry, which you will no longer be able to do, what does that mean? In practical terms, what does the development of the registry entail?

[Karen Shepherd]

Technology is changing constantly. There are improvements that we could benefit from. But the system is still going to work. However, it might be frustrating for users if the technology is not the best. Let's take Word, for example. There is version 4 and now there is version 8. They both do the same thing, but version 8 might be easier to use, given the new technologies.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

So you are going to stay in the same place and you will not be able to move ahead, which is rather unfortunate in light of how important your work is.

Overall, you have a small team, which is good. We all agree that we don't want to waste resources, but you only have 28 employees. Yesterday, some members on your team received letters, letting them know that their positions might be at risk, as they are for 3,800 other public servants. Two positions of the 28 might be eliminated. Who are the two employees you can do without? What positions can you really do without?

[Karen Shepherd]

As I said, I need employees with more financial skills and people for the evaluation program. One of the positions that I eliminated is a briefing officer. The person I am going to hire and who will do the evaluations of the program will also have the skills to fulfill those duties.

The other position is in administration. I will be able to share that person's services with another organization. With this decision, the duties will stay the same, but we will have more skills.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Do you feel that the work will be done properly, despite those cuts?