Government Operations committee  My mandate applies to the assistant deputy minister level and below. The mandate of the Public Service Commission does not apply to those leadership positions. I can't really give you an informed opinion on any particular appointment. I just know, when I read the in media and

Government Operations committee  I think we start with a code of conduct, and the code of conduct for ministerial staff has to be in the hands of the political side. I don't think public servants should be doing that. There could be good discussion as to who would then be the surveyor of that code. You have an

Government Operations committee  We took advantage of the opportunity to contribute to the committee's work and to assess the current act to discuss the two components of the act: staffing and non-partisanship. We found that the Privy Council Office had appointment processes in place, but we did not assess the

Government Operations committee  Other countries--and I'm looking to Australia and the United Kingdom--have either a public appointments commission, a merit commission, or a public service commission. The U.K. has now put their public appointments commission into their civil service commission, making it a publi

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. We did the report because this commission is coming to the end of its seven-year mandate, and at the same time we have a statutory review of the Public Service Employment Act, so we thought it was important that this commission put forward its views on

Government Operations committee  Thank you. Good morning. I am pleased to be here with Donald Lemaire, Senior Vice-President, Policy Branch, and Gaston Arsenault, Vice-President, Legal Affairs Branch, to discuss our special report on Merit and Non-Partisanship under the Public Service Employment Act (2003), whi

Official Languages committee  Yes, of course I want an A, and when I see that my folks don't feel they can write in the language of their choice and I have over 60% francophones, I'm assuming that English is the dominant language and they can't write in French. That's very frustrating to me, because they can

Official Languages committee  I think it's still a matter of leadership and of monitoring the situation in your own department. In my case, I got the impression that was clear to everyone: people have a right to write in the language of their choice. As the report states, that's not the case, and that's somet

Official Languages committee  It's the deputy minister who must ensure implementation—

Official Languages committee  Thank you, that's a very good suggestion.

Official Languages committee  The point is to determine what we can do in the context of our mandate within the public service, having regard to the delegation system. Perhaps I should be clearer, in the context of the delegation system: what is our expectation with regard to Part VII? What must the departmen

Official Languages committee  We work together a lot and we have regular contact. Now we are in the midst of discussions to determine what we can do with regard to Part VII. I mentioned the delegations. There is another way whereby we could perhaps have a greater impact and make a bigger contribution, and tha

Official Languages committee  We are in the process of doing our plans and priorities documents, and obviously we have to make sure we deal with the issues raised by the Commissioner of Official Languages. I want to have a better performance--

Official Languages committee  I'm the one responsible for all those matters. Frankly, that's something we've forgotten. The plan was there; we had a champion. I have a very high francophone representation. I was concerned about the level of service. The figures are very good. We didn't renew it and we are in

Official Languages committee  The existing plan was still in effect. It wasn't a question of not having a plan; it was a failure to renew the plan. The plan was in existence, and we are in the process of following it up. I'm concerned about the number of positions, the level of service. Part VII of the act i