Government Operations Committee on Nov. 28th, 2007

[Wayne Wouters]

Yes, we're getting really good responses right across the country.

[Rick Burton]

There are some processes where there are 6,000 to 7,000 Canadians applying for single opportunities. It's quite remarkable, the number—

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Are they all qualified for those...?

[Rick Burton]

Some would be screened out.

[Wayne Wouters]

Some are screened out, but most are very well qualified.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Could you expand as well, Mr. Burton, on your comment about the collaborative labour management system?

Also, you referred to your changing to a values-based as opposed to a rules-based system. I think a little expansion of that would be helpful as well.

[Rick Burton]

Most people don't like working in a situation where you face any number of rules to be able to get your job done, and over time these things build up in response to various perceived or real crises and so on.

The whole idea now is to reduce the number of rules, generally speaking, and that's not just in the human resource area but right across the breadth of the public service, and with the implementation of a values and ethics code and disclosure protection and so on, to create an environment where people understand what their role is and what their job is, know the ethical boundaries in which they operate—you have to focus on training and education and so on—but create a climate where people are less bound by rules and thereby less likely to want to innovate and take risks and do all those things that we know are essential to the functioning of any modern corporation. That is the general approach.

In specific terms, it is mandatory now with the new Public Service Labour Relations Act that deputy ministers have in place an informal conflict management system that isn't just a thing on the wall or a phone number, but is something whereby you start to create a culture in which people feel comfortable in raising issues before they become major irritants or a bother in the workplace.

All of those things together are the direction we're taking.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Is my time up?

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

You have 40 seconds.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

It sounds, with all of those great initiatives, as though we might not need to fund the tribunal to the tune of $2 million. You might never need to use it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Thank you, Mr. Albrecht.

Mr. Silva.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm always interested in cultural changes, and whether that culture is positive or negative, I'm not going to comment at this very moment.

Transparency and accountability are important words, but we have to also understand what they mean. On page 244, it is not very clear, and I need to get an explanation about the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists. You have increased, if I understand correctly, its funding by 43%.

Is that going to be an annual increase of 43%? Why is there such a large increase in that office?

[Wayne Wouters]

Yes, it will go up by that amount and then stay at that amount; that's the plan. That's part of the overall estimates process, and of course this is for the registrar's office to be able to undertake the new responsibilities under his or her responsibility for lobbying, including the registration by lobbyists and the monthly reporting. It needs to increase its capacity, and particularly the lobbyist registration system needs to be expanded and improved in order to handle all the new provisions. That is what that funding is earmarked for.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

You are saying that by next year there will be no increase of that magnitude, then.

[Wayne Wouters]

I don't have the ongoing budget.

Do you, Alister?

The intent is to have an increase of $1.2 million, and whatever the current budget is—I don't have that—it would be a one-time increase of $1.2 million, ongoing.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Will this all be in-house staff? There won't be any consultants as well; is that right?

[Wayne Wouters]

The intent is for the office to engage new staff to support the new responsibilities.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Will it be 100% staffed from within the bureaucracy?

[Wayne Wouters]

I can't comment on whether it's going to be 100%. To get this up and running, they may need some outside support, but the long-term objective normally with these agents of Parliament is that they hire their own staff.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

But it would be a bit of a problem if you hired consultants to work in the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists, wouldn't it?

[Wayne Wouters]

It depends. If they need IT support—and IT expertise is not at all unusual or uncommon—it may be appropriate to help them set up the system.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

A lot of IT hardware is also sold here on Parliament Hill, isn't it?

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Thank you.

Do you have another question, Ms. Bourgeois?

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Then we'll have a short break, and we can move on to other business.