Evidence of meeting #31 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was million.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Michelle d'Auray  Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Cal Hegge  Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
George Da Pont  Commissioner, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Michaela Huard  Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy Sector, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Mimi Breton  Assistant Deputy Minister, Oceans and Habitat Sector, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Claire Dansereau  Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Barry Rashotte  Associate Director General, Resource Management Branch, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

May 1st, 2008 / 10:35 a.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Cal Hegge

Again, if we look at slide 6 of the presentation, there's an item there on the 2007 cost efficiencies. That relates, as I said in passing, to “The Way Forward”, the Public Works and Government Services Canada procurement reform. These savings have been booked right across government. This is the portion that's been allocated to DFO.

Of course, we're never happy to see money come out of our reference levels. To be fair, some of this will be achieved through some of the savings in the procurement process--not likely all, in our view; there will be some residual impact on program delivery, if you will, but it's spread out across the full department. The approach we took was basically to apply a tax based on budgets across the department.

The other one I would highlight is “Expenditure Reduction Committee--Departmental Savings”. The ERC process took money out of our reference levels over a period of time. This one relates to some reductions that were achieved through coast guard initiatives. I think that's probably close to the end of the savings we're going to see come out of our reference levels with respect to the ERC initiative.

10:35 a.m.

Conservative

Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC

Thank you.

10:35 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning

Thank you, Mr. Kamp.

We're going to finish up with this round now. I'd like to thank our guests this morning.

My understanding is that the minister is appearing before us on Tuesday. I don't know if all the committee members have been notified yet, but the minister will be appearing for two hours, starting at eight o'clock on Tuesday morning.

10:35 a.m.

Liberal

Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL

Eight o'clock? Whose fault is that?

10:35 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning

Mine. You wanted two hours, but you didn't say when you wanted them.

10:35 a.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

10:35 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning

It was either that or Sunday morning, and I didn't think you'd be interested in that.

I'm sure some of our witnesses will be returning with the minister. On Thursday of next week we'll be discussing, after our get-together here this morning....

Our plan is to bring back some of you people from the department to discuss a couple of special topics. We haven't decided those yet, but based on our discussions this morning, we'll decide on a special topic or two. We will be informing you, hopefully later today, of that. So we'll be looking forward to seeing you again next Thursday.

I think the deputy minister has a few more remarks.

10:35 a.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Michelle d'Auray

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

While I would be pleased to come back next week with the minister, unfortunately I will be out of the country. My colleagues will be supporting the minister in that regard. I wanted to take the opportunity to let you know that.

Thank you for the opportunity to come before you today to respond to your questions.

10:35 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning

Thank you, and we'll look forward to seeing some of you again next week.

I'll ask the committee if they want to take a five-minute break to clear the decks, and then we'll come back. We have some committee business to deal with.

[Proceedings continue in camera]