Government Operations Committee on Nov. 27th, 2012

[Andrew Treusch]

To clarify, the responsibility of departments and myself is to make recommendations to government—the decisions are made by government. We offer advice. The minister makes a recommendation, cabinet approves it, and then we execute the decisions.

[Denis Blanchette, NDP, Louis-Hébert, QC]

But we are really talking about your own expenditures. I imagine that, as a rule, any proposals pertaining to your department are approved by Treasury Board. I would be surprised if you were often contradicted in this regard.

I would like to know whether you have an overall plan that enables you to deal with this type of request and not have to respond differently from one year to the next.

[Andrew Treusch]

In the time available, I want to underscore that these plans I am referring to are longer-term plans. The strategic review exercise was for three-year plans being implemented. The deficit reduction action plan now being executed by PWGSC on the real property side is a seven-year plan. It's a longer-term transformational plan. In addition, in other areas, you may recall I referenced the transformation we're doing in the delivery of pay and of pensions. These are longer-term plans. Although we have many reporting requirements where we come to you quarterly or annually, we are executing our milestones in longer-term plans, sir. So all of these savings initiatives are indeed the kinds of transformational longer-term efforts....

[Denis Blanchette, NDP, Louis-Hébert, QC]

I understand what you are saying, but I am asking the question because I am trying to better understand exactly how the department copes with constraints. You have estimates. We are somewhat familiar with them, but we would like to know a lot more. That is what I am trying to tell you. We would like to know a bit more about your long-term proposals, find out what direction you are taking and how that affects the services you offer.

One has to be honest here. You are reducing staff, but these people were not sitting and twiddling their thumbs. There may be productivity gains or technological improvements here and there, but the staff reductions requested of you are greater than the overall productivity gains. We also want to know what impact this will have on your day-to-day activities, what you have to sacrifice when it comes to translation, property management and so on.

[Andrew Treusch]

I'll try to deal with two sides of the question.

First of all, on our long-term plans in reductions, the numbers we have put out, which are a matter of public record—and I would be happy to share them with the committee—show the savings going out seven years. Those are the measures I was trying to summarize for the committee. The modernization of the workplace and the moving to direct deposit and internal economies—all of these numbers are available and are a matter of public record over seven years. So that's our planning horizon.

In terms of the people, I would say we've been quite successful, as I was indicating earlier, in placing the people who have been affected. Most of them have already been placed. We still have some to worry about, but over 95% of people from strategic review and 88% of people from DRAP have already been placed.

Your question, sir, is about the impact on services. I don't think services to Canadians have been materially affected. I think we've been able to meet these targets by being more efficient in the way we're delivering the services.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Thank you, gentlemen.

Our next questioner is Peter Braid from the Conservatives.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our PWGSC officials for being here this morning.

Mr. Treusch, first things first: the Chair's Cup. Tell us a little bit about that.

[Andrew Treusch]

Thank you so much. I have here one of our co-champions to lead the campaign.

First of all, it should be the public service in the national capital region; they raised over $21.4 million in the charitable campaign. That was announced last night. Our department raised over $1 million. We exceeded our campaign target, which was $925,000.

In this climate of fiscal restraint, and at a time when our department transferred a thousand employees to Shared Services Canada, we were a little anxious about being able to raise $1 million. But we were able to do so, and we're quite proud of that.

I thank you for the question.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Congratulations on that accomplishment. Clearly the United Way campaign here in Ottawa—and the wider community as a result—benefits from the generosity of federal employees. PWGSC is clearly a leader in that regard. Well done.

Turning to your presentation, I'd like to hear more about the client service strategy you have established and implemented. Could you tell us a bit more about what drove the implementation of that strategy, whether other government departments have similar strategies, or perhaps whether you're leading the way and other departments may follow in this regard?

[Andrew Treusch]

Thank you very much for the question.

Going back, I think we've always been a service organization. It's in our parliamentary mandate. It's in the legislation of Parliament. That's what we're constituted...along with a recognition of the fact that now a majority of our revenue comes from clients.

We live in a marketplace, sir. If we're not able to provide good service to client departments, then we will not be able to maintain that service line. We need to focus on client service. The client service strategy was the umbrella to bring this together for the department.

The department has, as I mentioned, with the very diversity of our service lines—some 30 different service lines—a vast regional network. We needed to have a very coherent and strong service strategy that affected the whole department, across all the service lines, with all our undertakings. The service strategy was the way of doing that.

I would say that at the heart of it is setting rigorous service standards, and these, sir, are standards that can be measured. It's just pass-fail—you met it or you didn't—and not those fine words. We now use that to report on the results and then recalibrate.

We did miss some of our standards, but that's the way it's designed to work. That's a warning sign to us that we need to improve, we need to up our game, and that's the way we're driving improvement there.

It has also established that the most important thing between a service provider and a client is the relationship. It's engaging the client, understanding their needs, and the client believing you're doing everything possible to help them meet their business needs. The client service strategy is built around that.

We are a leader in this kind of strategy for a department of our type. I would give recognition to Service Canada as being the first entity in the government that obviously had service delivery to citizens at their centre, but many departments have service strategies relevant to their mandate.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Similarly, are PWGSC employees measured on the same performance indicators as the departments?

[Andrew Treusch]

As I briefly alluded to earlier, we are introducing competencies in all of our staffing procedures. As we recruit and as we consider people for promotion, competency in client service is an important part of it. It is the missing piece of the puzzle that we're just now building in as part of the strategy.

Frankly, beyond that, though, we hold our managers rigorously to account for client service delivery. When we sit down, as deputy, with our branch lines, and we go through the results, we are using that to hold ourselves to account.

I think my colleagues here can attest that it's a very meaningful accountability mechanism that we take very seriously.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Thank you.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Do I have any time left?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

No, but thank you very much.

That's our time. We've got about one minute left. I want to thank our officials from Public Works and Government Services for coming. It was a great discussion. I may send you a few questions of my own later. We hope to see you again.

I'll suspend for a minute while we switch over to the Privy Council and the Transportation Safety Board.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

We are back in session.

We have a little committee business to take care of at the end of the meeting, so if we use up all our time, we may shut this down with about 10 minutes left to deal with a couple of items, including votes on the supplementary estimates (B).

I think Madame Doucet from the Privy Council Office is going to lead the charge with her presentation.

The floor is yours.

[Michelle Doucet, Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services, Privy Council Office]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Hello, everyone.

I am pleased to meet with the members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. Today, I am accompanied by Wilma Vreeswijk, Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Business Transformation and Renewal Secretariat, by Ian McCowan, Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Communications and Consultations, and by Marc Belisle, Executive Director of the Finance and Corporate Planning Division for the Privy Council Office.

My introductory comments pertain to the 2012-13 supplementary estimates (B) for the Privy Council Office, or PCO. In these estimates, PCO is seeking $4.8 million for various items, which I will explain without further preamble.

An amount of $1.3 million is for the government-wide coordination of the perimeter security and economic competitiveness action plan. On February 4, 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama issued a declaration on a shared vision for perimeter security and economic competitiveness. The declaration establishes a new long-term partnership that will accelerate the legitimate flow of people and goods between both countries, while strengthening security and economic competitiveness.

On December 7, 2011, both leaders agreed to implement two action plans designed to speed up legitimate trade and travel, improve security in North America, and align regulatory approaches between the two countries. Following this announcement, a small team was established within PCO to oversee Canada's implementation of the border action plan and to ensure close, regular, and routine communication, coordination, and consultation with the White House national security staff who oversee the U.S. implementation. Funding of $1.3 million is sought for the operation of the border implementation team within PCO.

The amount of $2.1 million is to support the ongoing work of the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council, the RCC, which was created following the agreement between the leaders on December 7, 2011. The RCC is an initiative that brings together senior representatives of the governments of Canada and the United States under a two-year mandate to increase regulatory cooperation between the two countries. The RCC joint action plan is an important step in the ongoing process of regulatory cooperation between Canada and the United States. Joint action plan work is being undertaken in the areas of agriculture and food, transportation, health and personal care products, workplace chemicals, the environment, and two cross-sectoral areas—nanotechnology and the view from the small business perspective.

PCO's work in this area is new since we last appeared before the committee. Originally, the Canadian secretariat to the RCC was hosted by the Treasury Board Secretariat, TBS. TBS had received funding in the amount of $3.3 million—and that excludes employee benefit plans and Public Works and Government Services accommodation costs—in fiscal year 2012-13 for the Canadian RCC secretariat. The Prime Minister announced in July 2012 that the secretariat was transferred to PCO effective August 1, 2012, under the leadership of David Moloney, who is also directing the border implementation team of which I just spoke. Therefore, TBS transferred the remaining 2012-13 funding in the amount of $2.1 million to allow PCO to house the operation of the RCC secretariat. As a result, this is not new money and there is no new impact on the fiscal framework for these funds.

The amount of $1.4 million is to support operational activities at the Business Transformation and Renewal Secretariat, BTRS, in supporting the priorities and planning subcommittee on government administration as it pursues government-wide opportunities for improved services and operational efficiencies. To this end, the new secretariat is working with departments and agencies to find whole-of-government solutions that improve the effectiveness and efficiencies of the government. It is also continuing the work of public service renewal and supporting the clerk as the head of the public service.

Funding included in these estimates is not a new draw on the fiscal framework, since funds are transferred from existing reference levels of 25 departments in 2012-13 and from 27 departments for future years. The remaining funding for the operation of the new secretariat will come from the former public service renewal secretariat, which had been housed within PCO's senior personnel group, but which has been moved to the new secretariat.

A total of $1.3 million is to continue to support the coordination of government-wide communications for Canada's Economic Action Plan. The action plan, or EAP, was first introduced in response to an unprecedented global recession. Given global economic uncertainty, the government is continuing to implement the economic action plan to help ensure a strong, stable economy for all Canadians.

Budget 2012 emphasized the priority placed on the economy in the overall government agenda, with the focus on jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. The EAP Web site was redesigned to focus on jobs and growth, and to ensure that Canadians are aware of EAP initiatives and how these initiatives apply to them.

The EAP team within PCO continues to support the coordination of a government-wide communications strategy for the EAP. The strategy serves to provide Canadians with access to evergreen information on more than 275 federal programs, services and initiatives announced in federal budgets, from a single Web portal rather than the individual Web sites of almost 40 departments and agencies.

On a day-to-day basis, the team is responsible for ensuring the EAP Web site is as evergreen as possible, using social media to highlight initiatives of interest to Canadians. This requires active, regular contact with departments and agencies to ensure projects are added to the EAP project map, initiatives and priorities are up to date, and job- and growth-related news releases are posted on the site.

The amount of $0.3 million is for the completion of the activities of the commission of inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. The commission generated a surplus of $1.6 million in 2011-12, which is mostly explained by the extensions granted to the commissioner to submit his final report from June 30, 2012, to the end of October 2012. As you may recall, PCO sought an amount of $1.3 million in the 2012-13 supplementary estimates (A), which was a re-profile of a proportion of the commission's 2011-12 surplus to the current fiscal year.

However, since then, the commissioner extended the contracts for council and legal research assistants and increased their hours as a result of the scale of the task of writing the report. In late April, additional activities resulted from one of the participants requesting that the hearings be reopened to consider alleged evidence of disease in store-bought farmed salmon. Furthermore, the commission needed to review Bill C-38 for implications on the commission's work. The funding sought in these estimates, $0.3 million, is also re-profiled for the remaining balance of the commission's 2011-12 surplus to the current fiscal year. On October 31, 2012, the report was officially released to the public, and the commission is in the process of winding down its office. It will be officially wound down by December 31, 2012.

The amount of $0.1 million is transferred from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, DFAIT, related to the Canada-Australia exchange program. For 2012-13, PCO had transferred funds to DFAIT for a new two-year assignment, which will now not be necessary as the program is under review and is expected to be reconfigured to have shorter assignments. Therefore, DFAIT is returning the funds for the portion of the year for which there will be no new departmental staff at missions abroad.

These increases are partially offset by $1.3 million in savings, as announced in Budget 2012. To achieve the ongoing savings, PCO will change the way we work in some significant ways, some of which I've highlighted more specifically for you in previous appearances. The federal-provincial territorial functions will be further integrated within PCO, and a new secretariat has been established. This will allow us to minimize overlap and duplication between elements of intergovernmental affairs and the other PCO secretariats.

The cabinet system is being streamlined. We are taking measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of decision-making that will result in a reduced workload. One example of this is the new format for memoranda to cabinet. The government communications function is being modernized and streamlined, including a new approach to media monitoring and analysis. The corporate services branch is reviewing its business practices to optimize efficiencies, and all other branches are also finding ways to modernize their business processes and to achieve administrative efficiencies to meet savings targets.

In addition to the reductions announced in Budget 2012, this fiscal year, $0.5 million in savings has been further identified in the day-to-day operations of the Prime Minister's office and is being returned to the fiscal framework.

In closing, I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to inform you of the ongoing initiatives in the PCO's 2012-13 supplementary estimates (B). We would be pleased to respond to your questions.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Thank you, Ms. Doucet.

We're also joined by the chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, Wendy Tadros.

Do you have an opening statement?

[Wendy Tadros, Chair, Transportation Safety Board of Canada]

We have no opening statement, Mr. Chairman, but we'd be pleased to answer any questions from the committee.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

That's fantastic.

We'll start with questions, then. Our first questioner is Ms. Linda Duncan from the NDP.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My first questions will be to the Transportation Safety Board. I'm well aware of the value of your work, having suffered through the largest freshwater spill in history, at Lake Wabamun.

My concern goes to the move for fiscal austerity and the ability for continued program integrity. I've looked through all the reports by the Transportation Safety Board, the report on plans and priorities, the strategic plan, the supplementary (B) estimates, and so forth. I'm reading—either it's forthright or between the lines—some concerns expressed by the Transportation Safety Board, and I think they are deserved.

You've reported that approximately 20% of rail staff in rail investigations will be eligible to retire within 24 months. Then, in your strategic plan, you state a concern with the high number of staff retirements. You have a concern that with the need to keep pace with the changes in industry, you will need to operate within limited resources to effectively deliver your tasks. You also reported, in plans and priorities, significant decreases in pipeline investigations over the next three years, which seems a little puzzling given the mounting concern by the public with the age of pipelines and potential accidents. Then you express that you are not able to meet half of your air investigations on time.

Could you speak to whether or not you have any concerns with...? Has PCO actually done a careful review of whether you're going to be able to deliver these critical services to Canadians within these cuts?

I have a second question for you, but I see that the bells are ringing.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

That's just the start of Parliament.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Okay. You can answer within this timeframe.

I found something very puzzling in the supplementary (B) estimates. I went through the main estimates for the Transportation Safety Board and supplementaries (A) and (B). For the mains and supplementary (A), we have continued the exact same amount, $26 million...almost $480,000 for program expenditures. Then, mysteriously, in supplementary (B), we have $28 million-plus, and yet there's no transfer and no adjustment. I'm wondering if you could explain where that total comes from. It looks like somebody must have decided to give you a bit more money, but where it comes from is not clear.

I wonder if you could also speak to the concerns raised in your various reports, and how we can maintain program integrity for a service that frankly the public very much values.

[Wendy Tadros]

Okay. I'll start out with the overview, and I'll ask Mr. Laporte, the chief operating officer, to address the question you have on the two figures.

In terms of the overview, we're confident that even with the cuts that were made to the organization, we will be able to deliver fully on our mandate. One of the issues that we do have and that we have had in the last couple of years is turnover of staff. That's a particular problem for us because these are highly trained individuals. We cannot staff those positions the way you can with some administrative jobs. We're looking for highly qualified individuals. That's been a challenge for the organization, but it's a challenge that I feel we are meeting.

That's the overview. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Laporte to discuss the two figures you raised.

[Jean Laporte, Chief Operating Officer, Transportation Safety Board of Canada]

In terms of the supplementary estimates (B), that's where the difference is included between the two numbers that you've referred to, the $26 million and the $28 million. In the supplementary estimates (B), we are receiving some funds that are being transferred from Treasury Board votes. It's not funding that we have specifically requested through supplementary estimates, but it's vote transfers from the Treasury Board votes. That includes the carry-forward of previous years' lapses in the amount of $1.3 million, the compensation adjustment for collective bargaining of $200,000, and pay-list requirements, which is an allocation to cover maternity allowances and severance pay, for another $200,000. That adds up to the $1.7 million difference that you referred to.