Evidence of meeting #44 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 million.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and welcome, Ms. Privacy Commissioner and directors general.
As I understand it, the privacy standards in the government world are not up to the standards in the private or corporate world. Would you comment on that with respect to the Privacy Act?
9:45 a.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Absolutely, honourable member.
We have in fact produced a report on the review of the Privacy Act, which we tabled here some time ago.
I have been saying for several years now that Canadians deserve better protection for their personal information in the hands of the government than what they have now. I'm not the first person to say that; every single privacy commissioner has, I believe, called that to the government's attention. I think there's some urgency, and I am very happy that you are considering studying the Privacy Act.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
What are some of the challenges we face in getting our privacy standards up to where you feel they should be, aside from the human resources issue?
9:45 a.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
The challenge is to create new standards. I think the challenge is also to look seriously at how personal information is collected, shared, and disseminated by the federal government. It's not a very transparent process, the Privacy Act is not very prescriptive about it, and there is not a lot of public reporting about what happens to Canadians' personal information. These are all things that I think should be strengthened. The government has to turn its mind to how it could be a little more open about how it uses personal information.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
In your opinion, when it comes to the Accountability Act, does it truly not put the privacy standards where they should be for Canadians?
9:45 a.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
The Accountability Act dealt with many important things, notably access to information. It also brought quite a few new organizations under the purview of the Privacy Act, but it doesn't deal with the issue of personal information collection and circulation throughout the federal government and its various agencies and corporations.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
So if we reviewed the Privacy Act and our recommendations were put in place, do you think you would still be able to manage within the budget estimates you have?
9:45 a.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I presume that if the Privacy Act is completely overhauled and renewed, there will be added responsibilities for us, but I don't think all of that is likely to happen in the current fiscal year. If that did happen, I would produce a new submission and come back to the all-party parliamentary panel.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
You also mentioned that you'd taken care of 25% of the backlog. How long did it take you to do that?
9:45 a.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
May I ask the director of investigations to give you that detail?
9:45 a.m.
Director General, Investigation and Inquiries Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Since April 1, 2006, the backlog for PIPEDA investigations was reduced by 60% and the backlog for Privacy Act investigations was reduced by 42%. These statistics are for the period between April 1 last year and March 31, 2007.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
So in the last year you were able to manage 25%, and now you say you will be able to manage the remaining 75% of the backlog in a year. Won't you feel any challenges managing that 75% backlog?
9:45 a.m.
Director General, Investigation and Inquiries Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I see that at this point we have 40% of the backlog that needs to be reduced compared to last year as of April 1, 2006.
As we had mentioned before, the fact that we will be hiring more investigators will certainly assist us. We're also looking at changing some processes and hiring some more contractors. We're looking at streamlining some of the processes we have in place right now. We've enhanced our training. We've increased investigative travel. I've requested that the investigators do more travel so as to reduce the time it takes to investigate a file. With all these processes and strategies in place, I'm confident that, with the new personnel, we'll be able to reduce it, as we mentioned before.
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Madam Commissioner and staff, for joining us today.
I'm going to pick up where Mr. Dhaliwal left off, because I had a question as well about addressing the backlog. I wonder, over what period of time were you able to manage the 25% reduction? Has it just been in the last year?
9:50 a.m.
Director General, Investigation and Inquiries Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
It has been since April 1. What I've brought as statistics today are for between last April and March 31.
There have been some changes in personnel. We've brought in, as I mentioned, different processes and strategies to reduce it. I'm quite happy with the reduction we were able to make in the last year, and as I mentioned before, I'm confident we'll be able to do it.
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
I agree, and it would be good to continue to strive to do that. I think that's great progress on something that's obviously very important, and conceivably, as Mr. Martin has suggested, you may in fact encounter some other pressures that come to bear. Realistically, to try to get the remaining 75% done by March of next year might be a stretch, but certainly it's good to set that bar high.
I had a question on the matter of accommodation. I'm looking at page 23 in the RPP with respect to the cost of accommodation that's provided through Public Works. I noticed in the total FTEs since last year that you increase from 125 to 154, and in the paragraph below, talking about the explanation of trends, you refer to the fact that there were one-time costs for fitting up offices and systems and so on in accordance with that increase in FTEs, I assume. But then I look into the future planning for the coming years, and those accommodation costs don't decline.
I wonder if you could tell me why. From last year to this year, accommodation costs stay the same, even though we've increased by 29 FTEs, and then as we move forward it stays the same. Could you just give us a bit of background on that?
9:50 a.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Mr. Chairman, could I ask the director of corporate services and finance to give you that detail?
9:50 a.m.
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
The information that's presented on page 23 in the table you're referring to is actually information that's provided to us by Public Works and Government Services Canada. Those are not actually costs that are borne by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner; they're borne by PWGSC and are associated with costs for the ongoing operations of the space we occupy.
9:50 a.m.
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
It doesn't change at all.
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
It's an allocation that has to show up on your estimates.
9:50 a.m.
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
That's right.
