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.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I don't know that that is a study we've actually undertaken, Mr. Chairman.
I can speak perhaps from my experience of being a provincial commissioner in one province. I think in that province the mechanisms by which personal information circulated within the government were slightly more transparent than they are in the federal government, but then, of course, provincial governments are significantly smaller, so things are, shall we say, easier to follow than they are in the federal government.
Liberal
Lloyd St. Amand Liberal Brant, ON
I have a question on another area--and Mr. Wallace has touched on this--and that is the regional offices. Correct me if I'm wrong--and I'm not diluting the importance of the attractive website, for young people particularly--but it would be of concern to any of us if vulnerable seniors, not computer-fluent in any way, were unaware of the existence of your office. I'm just wondering how a senior who is vulnerable is reached out to by your office. What proactive steps, if any, are being taken by your office to make seniors aware that you exist, that there is a complaints process, and that if they have concerns about their own privacy, you folks should be contacted?
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
That's a very good question. We've been asking ourselves how we can do this better. When we have an increased regional presence, I think this will certainly help us.
Generally we take any opportunity we have to reach out to seniors, although we don't have a particular seniors' program at this time. A member of the office addressed a group of seniors in the consumer movement--I'm sorry, I don't remember their exact name--who were in Ottawa and gave a presentation on protection of personal information, including those aspects that were of greatest interest to seniors. This was a coalition group, so each of those people would then take that information to their area of Canada.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Yes, it is.
Liberal
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
No. But part of this budget, which the parliamentary panel recommended, is for regional offices. I think we're within weeks or months of being able to announce how we are going to allow Canadians increased access and increased service. There will be one in the Atlantic area and one in the west.
Liberal
Lloyd St. Amand Liberal Brant, ON
Last, you've made the laudable point that mediation and conciliation are the preferred approaches to complaint resolution. Is that triggered by a philosophical outlook, that it's always better to resolve than to fight, or is it triggered by a lack of resources, to go the less expensive route because of budgetary constraints?
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I think we have to bring whatever it takes to the complaints and their resolution. We don't choose to do one type of approach because of the cost implications.
First of all, I am an ombudsman, who has powers to go to the Federal Court. This presumes that I try to present a conciliatory approach, where the parties are interested in conciliation. That does not mean we force complainants to accept any offer or agreement that they are not happy with. From our experience, most parties want to get to a quick, practical, efficient, realistic settlement; they don't necessarily want to drag themselves through the court. That's why we encourage settlement.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
You just mentioned something I hadn't heard before: the issue of regional offices. What do you estimate that might cost?
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
On the organizational chart, which I think is on page 3 of your handouts, you will see the box in the bottom right. Regional offices are $450,000, and about five person equivalents.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Okay. Does that total mean regional offices plus staff?
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
That means a little under half a million dollars.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Yes.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
On my line of questioning with respect to the increase in your current estimates, can you perhaps elaborate on your commission's plans with respect to complying with the Accountability Act?
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
We have set up an ATIP office. We have a person in charge of the ATIP office, as the law and the directives require. We have several employees on a term basis; they're not permanent employees, for the moment. We are processing access to information requests. We are evaluating what our request load will be and whether we will need further resources. But we're not going to jump the gun; we're going to see if we can't handle them with our current level.
We're also looking at the implications of the Privacy Act being extended I think to...is it 150 organizations? The director of corporate services is doing those calculations. I don't know if he wants to say anything.
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
In terms of the raw numbers presented in the RPP—the blue book—the $19 million you made reference to earlier is highlighted in the chart on page 1. Of that $19 million, we have identified $1.3 million in planned spending in 2007-08, $1 million in 2008-09, and $1 million in 2009-10. Those amounts were given to us by the Treasury Board Secretariat, who asked us to insert them into the RPP, based on their analysis and their estimates from their work on the Federal Accountability Act.
It's our intention to present a business case and come forward to the parliamentary panel and, ultimately, to this committee with respect to our funding needs under the Federal Accountability Act.
As Commissioner Stoddart already made reference, there are basically two aspects of it. One is the expanded coverage of the Privacy Act, which we're assuming will not have a significant financial impact on our organization. So at this stage, although the business case is not yet finalized, it is not our intent to seek additional resources for the expanded coverage of the Privacy Act.
The second aspect of Bill C-2 that impacted us is the fact that we are subject to our own act, as well as to the Access to Information Act. Based on that, we know that we will have a need, and will have to set up an ATIP office. This year we've had some money allocated to that out of our base, or from non-additional resources, but it will probably will not be sufficient—though, once again, the business case is not finalized.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
So is all of what you've mentioned—the regional offices, the accountability, the increased workload—included in the $3.5 million increase?
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Of the $3.5 million you're referring to, about $1.5 million or $1.4 million relates to the Federal Accountability Act. Once again, those funds are not actually part of the amounts being presented to you today for approval.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
That's what I'm getting at. So what you've mentioned is not included in these estimates?
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
It's in some of the tables to provide you with as much information as possible.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
I understand that, but the figure of $19 million, for example—actually, in excess of $19 million—doesn't include your proposals for regional offices or the increased service you would be obliged to provide under the accountability legislation.
Director General, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
It actually does. Of the $19.7 million, $1.3 million relates to the Federal Accountability Act, and under that is the expanded coverage of the Privacy Act and ATIP.
The funds for the regional offices you're making reference to actually concern funds we sought through the business case we presented to the all-party panel—and these funds were phased in over two years. So some of the increase you're seeing in this fiscal year, 2007-08, is a result of our presentation to that panel back in November 2005, and it was phased in over two years. So you're seeing approximately $2 million—
