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.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Sorry, you're at five and a half minutes.
I have myself and Ms. Davidson on the list. If there's anybody else who wants to ask any questions, please put up your hand. I'll take my five minutes.
Going to the pie chart that Mr. Wallace was referring to, item 3, “Information”, is $200,000. Of the boxes listed on page 3, where would we find that $200,000?
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
It is under “Public Education”, Mr. Chairman.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Now that's what confuses me. For “Public Education and Communications” you've got $1.7 million. Then under the pie chart you've got, “Information”, $200,000, and then you've got item 2, “Transportation and Communications”, $860,000.
Is item 2, “Communications”, part of “Public Education and Communications” at $1.7 million?
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Do you mean item 2, “Communications”, under “Transportation and Communications”?
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
That's for electronic communications like the telephones, Internet services--
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
So that's not part of the “Public Education and Communications” box on page 3. Is that correct?
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
That's correct.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
So then where is the other $1.5 million on page 3, for the “Public Education and Communications” box?
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
In terms of all the boxes that are on the chart on page 3, they're both salary and non-salary, for your information. To give you some sense of what I think you're after, if you look in this book....
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
I'm not sure I know what I'm after. I'm just trying to read and understand how these things are presented to us.
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
If you look at page 24, you're just going to get a repeat of that number, whereas the communication branch is the...so it probably doesn't help you. I'm not sure what you're after.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
My point is that it's not entirely clear, because I can't really tell if I'm comparing.... I'm obviously comparing apples and oranges, and that doesn't help me.
So let me move on to something else. You've got acquisition of machinery and equipment at a quarter of a million dollars, and you've got repair and maintenance at half a million dollars. What are you repairing for half a million dollars when you just bought a quarter of a million dollars' worth of stuff?
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Do you want me to go with the acquisition first?
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
The acquisition of the $252,000 is made up of computer equipment of $152,000, computer software of $50,000, and then some office furniture and fixtures for $50,000. In terms of the purchase repair and maintenance, there's $50,000 allocated to maintenance of hardware and $125,000 allocated for maintenance of software.
There was a question earlier that relates to our business case implementation, the cost of our growing. This is included here as well. We've allocated $100,000 for the business case implementation.
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
In terms of accommodating the additional staff, we had some additional space allocated to us by PWGSC, but that wasn't sufficient to accommodate this additional staff. In order for us to accommodate them, we had to retrofit some of our existing space to--
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
And you couldn't make a turnkey with your landlord, Government Services?
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
No.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
That's unfortunate. So I guess that's where utilities comes in. In item 7 you pay utilities?
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
That's a mixed bag as well.
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
It's utilities, materials, and supplies. So it's not so much utilities as--
