Evidence of meeting #16 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chairman.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Let's do it. Nicholson Associates Inc., for $24,717; what's that?
4:15 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
We just have to find it.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
We'll deal with that one, Mr. Tilson; then we'll go to the next question and others can step up—
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Thank you. I appreciate the leniency you've given me, Mr. Chairman.
4:15 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Neither of us can give you that answer right now. There are many we can. But we could get it back to you.
There are some, for example, that we could. I'll cite the most recent one: Gowling Lafleur Henderson. This is for services in relation to the audit, I'm told.
November 8th, 2006 / 4:15 p.m.
Director General, Corporate Services and Comptroller, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I don't have the full details. What I understand is that they were on a contract that was let for the purpose of one of the audits being conducted by our audit review branch.
4:15 p.m.
Director General, Corporate Services and Comptroller, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
That's right.
4:15 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
No, it was on another organization, and we needed some help. I think this is in conjunction with powers that we are exercising for the first time.
For example, we could go down—
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
No, I don't want to take any more time from the opportunity of members to ask questions. If they want to pursue this, they can, but they may have other things they want to ask, and we'll go from there.
Mr. Dhaliwal, do you have anything right now, or do you want to get freshened up on the—
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
No, that's okay. I just got here, and I'm new on the committee as well.
I was going through the report from when this panel appeared before the committee last year as well, and there was something like 38% increase in funds. With that increase in funds, did the efficiency of the department increase when it comes to the backlog, or it is still staying the same?
4:15 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
We have plans for improving the efficiency with the new resources.
Mr. Chairman, may I ask the director of investigations to talk to the honourable member about that?
4:15 p.m.
Director General, Investigation and Inquiries Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
As I mentioned earlier, we've hired recently five new investigators, and I'm in the staffing process for seven more. We're reviewing the 691 cases, I believe it is, in the backlog one by one to determine in what way we could prioritize them. We're looking at reviewing all our administrative processes to streamline them, as well as certain operational processes that we believe can be streamlined so as to reduce the delays and reduce the backlog, period.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
The other thing is, I was going through your priorities, which say, “Build organizational capacity; hire and integrate new staff, engage and train existing staff.”
When it comes to hiring staff, how many members do you have now and how many are you planning? What will be the increase in staff?
4:15 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
We have 100 employees now, and we plan to be at 124 at the end of this fiscal year.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
You say “Develop results-based systems and baselines”. What do you mean by that?
4:15 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
That means making a clear distinction from where you start, and evaluate the progress by results you can measure.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
If you were to look at previous years, what were your guidelines to measure, what were the baselines you had, and how would you measure the successes of the department?
4:20 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
That is the system we're trying to develop, a performance evaluation system for all the different activities we carry out.