Evidence of meeting #51 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was buildings.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
One of the comments you made, Madam Meredith, was with regard to translators. I thought that was interesting, because we've been studying the impacts of demographics and we haven't heard that from anybody else. It was actually very surprising. It's the kind of thing that I actually expected us to hear, that we need 1,000 translators but we're only going to have access to 400.
I wonder if you could tell us--and this may not be directly related to your department--what kind of strategy do we have to ensure that we get 1,000? This government can't operate without translators, so we can't simply say there's going to be an issue. What are we doing to proactively ensure that we get those 1,000 translators that we need?
4:30 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Thank you for the question.
We have initiatives on a number of fronts. We have internship programs, where we're partnering with universities and colleges to get their students to come and work in the Translation Bureau, either in stages or in the summer months, so that they're training and studying at the same time. We find that although it's important to get the diploma, that's not enough; they need the on-the-job training. So we're getting them in early to get that professional training to ensure that they're ready when they join us.
We're lending some of our translators to lecture in universities. We're helping the University of Ottawa, which currently has the only Masters program in interpretation, to run that program and encourage translators to apply.
We have initiatives on a number of fronts. We're working with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to encourage that region's language industry and the student population of those provinces to pursue careers in translation. So we're trying on a number of levels, and actively.
Because this industry is important, it's not only what we do inside government but also the small enterprises, where translators often work in their houses to supply translation, that's important to us too, because we contract their services as well.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
4:30 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
No, we're not comfortable. That's why we're trying so hard. We're being creative. I'm comfortable that a career in translation, if I could put a plug in for it, sort of fits what we understand to be the aim of young people today who want independence but a satisfying career. I think they can do that with translation. So I see every reason why they should pursue it. It certainly has a bright future as far as we're concerned.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
If I can change channel a little bit, I'd like to talk about procurement.
One of the things that I think scare all of us is the sole-source contract. I've always wondered, and sometimes I guess you have no choice, but in a case like the C-17, for instance, how do you compare? How do you know that you've had a fair price? That's always bothered me. Sure, you're limited to Boeing; it's the only company that can supply the product. Do you look back at past sales to other countries? How do you make sure that your country got the best price possible?
4:35 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I guess you may never know for sure, because those negotiations are tightly held. You can try to get information out of other countries, for example. Usually you have good relationships with other middle countries or--
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
4:35 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
So you share information as much as you can and you bargain as hard as you can on every line item you're negotiating, and at the end of the day, you try to compare notes. And it's usually through hearsay that you hear you got a pretty good deal.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
4:35 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
That's the feedback we got on that one.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Was that done on the C-17, for instance, if you compare with other countries?
4:35 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Oh yes. You have relationships with them. You meet them at trade shows. Your defence people work with them in different settings, so--
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
4:35 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
--you have a pretty good idea, I think, of what your target is and you try to bargain harder than anybody else.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
I have one last question on information technology. I was on the board of a credit union in Manitoba, and I can tell you that if there's one place where you can run into cost overruns, it's with information technology, and also not necessarily getting the right product or the right system. By the time you find out it's not the right system, you're already halfway through it.
So I wonder if those are some of the issues you've been facing, if you're comfortable that the new information technology programs or systems that we've put in are working well.
I'd also like to know the relationships between Public Works and Government Services and the individual departments, because I'm assuming you're not getting rid of all the information technology. Even if they did work in silos for a long time, they still exist for a period of time before you can integrate all that.
So talk to me about the relationship; and in terms of the new systems we've put in, are we on budget and are they working well? Are they doing what they're supposed to be doing?
4:35 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
That is a big question. For us, the key is to have the right information technology professionals on staff so we have the best managing our IT projects well and getting them delivered on time and on budget.
I think what you're also talking about is how we develop our shared services in information technology and make sure we're getting the economies we want out of that shared service. Steven Poole and his group have helped our procurement branch, in a sense, negotiate contracts for whether it's desktop computers or....
Steven could probably come to the table and tell me what the cost savings were, because I think for 2006 they amount to.... I'm trying to think of the product line, but I recall the number $65 million for the government as a whole to be the cost savings achieved through the deal we negotiated on this category of equipment.
Steven, does that ring a bell?
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Maybe I can ask Mr. Poole another question.
Are there any systems in place right now that you're aware of where there are huge problems and that are not working very well and where there are huge cost overruns?
4:35 p.m.
Acting Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology Services Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Thank you for the question.
I think it's really important to clarify the role of Treasury Board Secretariat, other government departments, and Public Works and Government Services. In terms of systems, what I would call applications, I focus on the ones for Public Works themselves. We've recently had the Government of Canada Marketplace, which has gone in right on budget, on time, and it's working well. We're also starting a financial systems project, which just got under way. So those projects are on track.
With regard to how other departments do, you'd have to talk with those departments, but there is an oversight responsibility by the Treasury Board Secretariat. I have a colleague who is the CIO of the Government of Canada, and he can give you more information about how those projects are doing.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
But would you not purchase the systems for them, or not necessarily?
4:40 p.m.
Acting Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology Services Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
These are internal roles and responsibilities, so it is my colleague, the assistant deputy minister of acquisitions branch, who would be involved in the purchasing--
4:40 p.m.
Acting Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology Services Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Correct, it would be Public Works, but it's not specifically in my branch. But certainly, as colleagues, if she has questions from a subject matter expert point of view, she's quite capable of asking questions, and I'm happy to provide those answers.
