Evidence of meeting #10 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pco.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Plans and Consultation, Privy Council Office
On the navigable waters act issue, that's been an issue that government has heard about from many stakeholders and from provinces in terms of that legislation, and it has decided to proceed with proposed amendments to the legislation to focus on only the ones that are of real concern to navigation.
11:50 a.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
I have very little time left, so I'm going to ask you one more question. Part of the budget was the expectation of $10 billion realized through the sale of public assets. Does it fall to the PCO to give the recommendations on the cost-benefit analysis of whether to sell a building and lease it back or whether to sell Canada Post or whether to...?
First of all, what kinds of assets have you seen contemplated? Secondly, what recommendations are you giving for them to be able to realize $10 billion in the sale of public assets?
11:50 a.m.
Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Plans and Consultation, Privy Council Office
The Privy Council Office would provide advice on whatever the government asked to receive advice on, so that would be--
11:50 a.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Is that one of the things that's currently being developed in the PCO? We can't seem to get--
11:50 a.m.
Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Plans and Consultation, Privy Council Office
Mr. Chair, I'm not really in a position to talk about what specific advice we would be asked to provide now on the matters that we're being asked to look at right now.
11:50 a.m.
NDP
11:50 a.m.
Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Plans and Consultation, Privy Council Office
The whole issue of public assets was raised in the context of the economic statement last fall. The Minister of Finance or the finance department may be better placed to speak to specifics on that.
11:50 a.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
We've asked them. They keep saying.... They won't tell us, so we're asking you, under sworn testimony before this committee, is such a list being developed by the PCO?
You're asking us for money to finance your operations. We want to know what operations you're undertaking.
11:50 a.m.
Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Plans and Consultation, Privy Council Office
As a public servant, I'm just not at liberty to talk about the advice we're giving to the government.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Derek Lee
Mr. Martin, committees of the House normally recognize the routine confidentiality within ministries and in the Privy Council. We do that to accommodate the functions of government. It would be unfair, right off the wall, to ask Mr. Kennedy to make disclosure of things that may or may not exist within the Privy Council like that. Perhaps Mr. Kennedy's answer has already satisfied you.
11:50 a.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Well, thank you for your intervention, Mr. Chair, but as my colleague says, we seem to have stumbled across Roswell, the Area 51, of the American space program that nobody is allowed to talk about.
We all know it's there. It's being debated and it's being developed, but it's taboo for some reason.
At some point, we're going to have to find out what properties and what crown corporations they plan on unloading.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Derek Lee
This matter is on our future agenda, actually, if you're talking about disposal of capital assets.
I've taken some of your time. If you can put a question in 10 seconds, then you may. Go ahead.
11:50 a.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
The residential retrofit program was promised, yet we don't see it in the Budget Implementation Act. Was it the PCO that was asked to put together the details of such a package or to recommend it? Where did this fall off the rails? Homeowners now don't have the confidence that they can spend the money and expect to get their rebate because the enabling legislation doesn't exist. What role did the PCO have in developing this program?
11:50 a.m.
Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Plans and Consultation, Privy Council Office
Mr. Chair, I'd have to get back to the committee with the specifics, but I believe the home retrofit program was in the notice of ways and means motion, which means that, as has traditionally been the case, it took effect at that date and the follow-up legislative changes would follow in a subsequent budget implementation act, which would presumably come later in the fall.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Derek Lee
We'll have to accept that answer, but I will say, Mr. Martin, that your chair went through the notice of ways and means motion last night and I couldn't find it. We'll do some more research on that. We have a great researcher here. In any event, that's not Mr. Kennedy's area of legislation.
We'll go to Ms. Hall Findlay, for five minutes.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Martha Hall Findlay Liberal Willowdale, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to pursue just a little bit my earlier questioning about the access to information requests. I understand that a lot of departments have seen significant increases in requests.
Can you comment on whether the proportion of the requests coming to PCO has increased, and the complexity, and if there are any specific departments that have increased the number, proportionally, of their requests to the PCO?
11:55 a.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services Branch, Privy Council Office
I can't speak specifically as to whether there are particular departments that are consulting with us more or less. We are consulted, but we also have to go out and consult, so it is a two-way street.
But in all business related to ATIP, it is going up in volume. I could get you some specifics if you were interested.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Martha Hall Findlay Liberal Willowdale, ON
That would actually be very helpful, simply because the Information Commissioner specifically said that a significant part of the increase in delay has been the cabinet consultations and made a suggestion that there has been more involvement by the PCO. He didn't say it as in it being for all departmental requests; the suggestion was that there was in fact a proportionate increase in that.
11:55 a.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services Branch, Privy Council Office
Right. I should explain. There are actually two different organizations inside Privy Council Office that are occupied with ATIP. One is the one that works for me, which actually gets the requests for information for both the access to information and privacy. We handle those. There is another organization that is in the legislative area, which takes care of cabinet confidences. I know this was the first report in which the commissioner has ever commented on the cabinet confidences.
Inside of PCO, running an ATIP office, I am a client department in the same way that all other departments are clients. So as soon as there is any information or documentation that may have a section 69, which is cabinet confidence, we have to go to cabinet confidences and have them review it. I know their volume is quite high, and he did make comment about that in the report.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Martha Hall Findlay Liberal Willowdale, ON
Just bearing with my own learning curve, can you help me understand the difference when he talks about cabinet consultations as opposed to cabinet confidences? Those are two very different things, no?
11:55 a.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services Branch, Privy Council Office
No. He speaks to cabinet confidences in the report.
11:55 a.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services Branch, Privy Council Office
Yes. There are two or three things that happen. We have consultations between departments when there is more than one department that may have an interest in the file--