Fisheries Committee on May 5th, 2010

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

So they're going to report to you now instead of--

[David Bevan]

That's correct.

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

Where were they before?

[Michaela Huard]

They had reported to me as part of infrastructure and information management. Then, as of December, they reported to me as part of human resources and corporate services. But as of Monday, as David says, they are reporting to David.

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

So you're probably happy to give that up.

[Michaela Huard]

No, actually, I wasn't, but that's where it belongs right at the moment.

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

I asked the minister about this when she was with us last, I think.

On this freeze on operating budgets that was announced as part of our restraint approach to government, what can you tell us in terms of how that's going to play out, how it's being received, and whether it is affecting morale? I realize that it doesn't mean a freeze on wages as such, but if you could just give us any more detail about that, it would be welcome.

[David Bevan]

It does create a pressure that we're going to have to manage. That being said, we've managed pressures for every year that I can recall and have been able to keep the operations going. So that causes the same challenges that have been caused by other factors in the past.

We do have a lot of opportunity relevant to the demographics, so there are not expected to be any major impacts on individual staff. It's not having a significant impact on morale as far as I can tell.

Perhaps you could add some details.

[Roch Huppé]

I'm not sure about morale, but what I can say is that from a financial perspective, yes, we are dealing with it. Obviously we're in budget allocation mode right now, as we speak, and that freeze is, at this point, estimated, because we have yet to receive the final number from the centre. TBS is indicating that sometime this summer they will have completed their analysis.

We have done our own internal analysis. It represents approximately $10 million to $11 million for us. That's what is projected right now. We're actually building that into the allocation of the budgets process as a good practice so that managers can actually have a good knowledge as to where their budget stands and there can be better budget management to absorb that pressure.

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

Okay. Related to that, a strategic review has already been mentioned. As we know, Fisheries and Oceans is one of the departments that will have the pleasure of going through that process. I do know that it's a very interesting and challenging process. I wonder if you could tell us more about it, about the internal workings of it.

I assume that it's a challenge to identify 5% of lower-priority programs and so on. How do you finally get there? Also, what is the whole process of getting it back to Treasury Board and so on and where you finally land with some decisions?

[Roch Huppé]

As you know, I guess, the details of it are confidential. The numbers will actually come out through budget 2011, but I think the department is well on its way to addressing strategic review.

We've built a solid governance structure to address that, so we have steering committees. We have formed what we call challenge teams, which include certain ADMs. We're building the information. As you know, strategic review is basically a government-wide reallocation exercise. It makes us do a complete review of all of our expenses. I think that's the important point.

Right now we're at the level where we're finishing off the review of all of the expenditures of the department and all of the programs, and we're basically working on putting forward proposals for reallocation. We're working closely with the central agencies on that part. They're actually included in our steering committee and our challenge team.

We actually got some feedback saying that the process we're following is a model that should be followed, so I think it's going out well. Now, I mean, it is a tough exercise, but at the same time, I think it's also an opportunity to redesign our program delivery.

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

So you look at every program, then, or at every expenditure, most of which I assume are in programs, and you look at available evidence to see that it's actually meeting our mandate or your mandate in a cost-effective way. So what do these challenge teams do, then?

[Roch Huppé]

To come back to what you said, yes, we look at every program and we do rely on certain data, such as, for example, audits and evaluations that would have been done on the relevance and effectiveness of the different programs. We take a look at it from the aspects of relevance, effectiveness, and the efficiency of the delivery of a program.

The difference this year is that the central agencies have also asked us to do a complete review of what we call our internal services expenses, and not only the program expenses, so we have to produce data on that front also.

The challenge function is basically that of challenging the different areas and different ADMs as to the assessment of the different programs being high-priority programs versus low-priority and the high risk of putting something on the table, and looking at the funding aspects and the savings that could be generated from those decisions.

You have to keep in mind that in the strategic review exercises, as these proposals are accepted by the centre, the actual funding will be removed on a three-year basis as part of our budget on April 1. So I think one of the important aspects of making this a success is to ensure that the decisions made will actually generate the savings in the timelines we will have set for ourselves. Because if they don't show up, it creates additional pressure from a funding aspect.

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

Finally, on a different topic, I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome Dr. Mithani. I think this is the first time we've had an opportunity to meet you. I wonder if you are able to tell us a little bit about how you came to be in this position and where you came from?Was it from within the department or elsewhere?

Do you have the general layout of the science program as you see it? Do you bring any new perspectives to it, or new focuses, new ambitions? With respect to the main estimates, do you see us spending enough on science and how it's broken down and so on?

Could you give us just a general overview of your position?

[Dr. Siddika Mithani, Assistant Deputy Minister, Oceans and Science, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

Thank you very much.

I come from Health Canada. I had been in Health Canada for a very long time. My background is that of a scientist, so from Health Canada I bring my scientific experience as well as regulatory knowledge, with which I hope I can make a valuable contribution to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

When I look at science in DFO as compared to science elsewhere, I actually feel privileged to be in this department, because science is independent, it's transparent, and it's open. For me, the scientific priorities are really well articulated in our science plan as well as in the plan of the department. So from my perspective, it's very exciting to be in an organization where science is not only part of the department but also provides a service to the other sectors.

As we move forward, some of my focus is going to be on ensuring that the science we have is quality, that it has an impact, and that it's relevant, as well as on looking at partnerships externally, with academia and industry, and also internationally, in terms of being able to get the best science possible so that we can make fundamentally appropriate science decisions.

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

What's my time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

You have 30 seconds left.

Mr. Andrews.

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'll get back to the small crafts and harbours announcements and the funding allocations. I have a few questions.

Michaela, does the department have input into when these announcements are made and the preparation going into them? Whose decision is it to make these announcements and when?

[Michaela Huard]

The government usually chooses when to make particular announcements. We had to work on the plan. We had to provide the advice. Decisions had to be made with respect to the plan. Then work has to be done with respect to preparing for the announcements.

As I recall, the committee's recommendation was to ensure that decisions were made, approved, announced, and tendered by June 1. That's what we're working very hard on to ensure it happens. Work is continuing. I do want to point out that the work is continuing. We're not holding up any of the tendering or the work in the harbours, which I think is the critical part.

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Was the department ready to make these funding announcements when they were made?

[Michaela Huard]

Yes.

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

I find it very strange, because we have five cleverly crafted press releases from the department, and all of them are exactly the same, except to insert one sentence from one particular minister or unelected senator.

Other announcements from the departments have come with backgrounders. One that was done on February 15 on small craft harbours came with a backgrounder. The ones that were done last year came with a backgrounder. Why were backgrounders not provided with these five announcements last week?

[Michaela Huard]

I have to confess that I'm not responsible for the communications function in the department. I don't know the details of any discussions there have been with respect to the minister's office as to particularly how the announcements are to be done.

We're very lucky this year to have so much money with the economic action plan. There are a lot of projects to get out and I expect it was simply a decision that we wanted to get the information out as quickly as possible. We've done it by province. I know there are further announcements that are being made. As I said, I believe there will be one in Quebec this week. There will be further ones and the details will be out as soon as possible.

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

When Mr. Byrne asked the question, you said that you would be announcing the projects later. So why wasn't it done the same way as it has been done every year? Can anybody answer that?

[Michaela Huard]

I wasn't involved in those discussions, so I couldn't tell you precisely.