Information & Ethics Committee on April 29th, 2008

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

Are you positive about that? I'm from New Brunswick. The people in my office watch the Government of Canada service for jobs every day of the week. I'll have to go back and ask, but I have never seen or had brought to my desk any information suggesting your commission is looking for workers.

[Maureen Munhall]

We have actually hired someone and relocated that person from Nova Scotia, just last year. We have another person coming in from Toronto. So we are reaching them. I can't explain why—

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

I can't help but be amused, though, by your putting that as an example. You know, “one time we hired someone from Nova Scotia”, “maybe someone came from Toronto”.

You know, we are a national government, and when you restrict employment to certain geographic areas in a job as demanding as yours.... Have you hired someone from Saskatchewan lately?

[Maureen Munhall]

The area from which people can apply is not restricted. It's open to all Canadians across Canada. So the results have indicated that the qualified person has been from a certain geographical location, but—

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

In the last six months, how many job opportunities have there been?

[Maureen Munhall]

In the last six months?

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

The yellow here seems to indicate you have a lot of new hires each year. It would appear that in the years 2007 and 2008.... Would that seem to be 50-some new hires?

[Maureen Munhall]

Yes, I would say. All the jobs that are open to the public, excluding the clerical positions, have an area of selection open to all Canadians.

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

Could we have a few examples of your advertisements, your job postings, so we might see how they have gone?

Say if you hired 60-some, you must have had 50 or so postings. Could we see maybe ten of them to see how they applied across the country?

[Maureen Munhall]

We can provide that back to you, yes.

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

Good. Thank you, Maureen.

[Jennifer Stoddart]

Could I perhaps direct your attention to page 4, where we talk about the fact that we've developed web-based written exams and that we even have, as candidates, Canadians who are in India and Malaysia, who successfully wrote our exams? I just wanted to assure this committee that we are trying to bring Canadians, not only from all across Canada, because we do our investigations and we serve Canadians all across Canada, but from places where Canadians are travelling.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Mr. Wallace.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Charles, after the next election, if you need a reference letter, I'll give you one.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

You'll probably need one more.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

It's a little joke. It's hot in here.

I always appreciate getting numbers. I'm having difficulty already with the first chart. In the estimates, you talk about 154 and then it goes down to 150, but in this chart we're showing 145 as the target. Which is more accurate? Is it the 150 that's in the plan, spending estimates, full-time equivalents, or is the 145 more accurate? Are they both accurate? You can explain the difference.

[Jennifer Stoddart]

That's a good question. I don't have that other table. They are both accurate.

[A voice]

One is last year; one is this year.

[Jennifer Stoddart]

Okay, it's not the same.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

So this chart is saying 2007-08 at 145, and I see in forecast spending full-time equivalents of 154, and this is actual. So I'm assuming that's targeted. The actual is 122. That is accurate, right? I think you told me 122 at the last meeting. Is that correct?

[Jennifer Stoddart]

Yes.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

I'm just pointing out that there seems to be a discrepancy right there.

If I look at this correctly, from 2004-05 to 2007-08--which is I guess what we just finished up--you've had a 58% increase in staffing. Is that driven by changes in workload?

[Jennifer Stoddart]

In terms of the target, I would say 45%, but I'm not an accountant.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Well, I'm taking the actuals, not the projected.

[Jennifer Stoddart]

Okay, what we're funded for....