Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon. I have very brief remarks to go through. A deck has been provided to you in both official languages. That will guide the remarks that I'll share with the committee today.
Before we do that, please allow me to introduce those sitting with me here. On my left is Jeffery Hutchinson, recently appointed deputy commissioner of strategy and shipbuilding for the Canadian Coast Guard. Immediately to my right is Kevin Stringer, our senior assistant deputy minister for ecosystems and fisheries management. On my far right is Trevor Swerdfager, assistant deputy minister of ecosystems and oceans science. Tom Rosser is our senior assistant deputy minister of strategic policy. He is currently hung up in Boston at the International Boston Seafood Show, which is a fairly major event for the department.
The appropriations process is not news to this committee. I just wanted to quickly reference that we're in the third supply period of the cycle. For us, as I'll explain in very brief remarks, it's a fairly important supply, because of the way this particular year has unfolded.
I'll just pass over the supply timeline but you'll note the growing appropriations for the department. We'll come back to those numbers again.
As we know, there are three supply periods for this year. It is unusual for us, but the department went in supplementary estimates (A) because that was the opportunity to bring in the infrastructure funding. We brought in $203 million in that first supply period, which is a large amount of funding. Almost all of it was for the infrastructure initiative to get us out of the gates and going for the fiscal year.
We were not in the second supply period, supplementary estimates (B). That was primarily reserved for items coming immediately out of the 42nd general election and the hot issues that evolved from that.
Therefore, this year, in a bit of an unusual way, we have fairly substantial supplementary estimates (C) as a result of having held on for the bulk of the year.
The table that appears in the official publication of the supplementary estimates (C) can be found on page 2-32 in English or on page 2-72 in French. What is shows you is that there are 25 items that we're seeking your support for through the voted process. Overall the supplementary estimates (C) total about $184.5 million of which $182.7 is subject to vote. The difference is the $1.7 shown on the table in the total column, our statutory items that are brought in through other enabling legislation. Primarily, our employee benefits increases for the year.
The bottom of the page frames for you what the key increases are related to. I'm going to get into those in just a second.
Supplementary estimates (C), authorities to date, is interesting from my perspective because when you look at the horizon of each of the years previous to this year, you'll notice a fairly level total authorities story for the department. This year, in 2015-16, you see a fairly significant jump. That's because of the two big drivers and we're going to see those in this estimates process today.
This is our capital investment. We're one of the departments in the public service that has a tremendous range of capital assets and a need for capital investment to build our marine fleet and, as I mentioned in our opening remarks, this year we brought in about $190 million just for the infrastructure program alone.
Let's move then to some of those details in your official documents under the explanation of requirements section, page 2-32 or 2-72. These are the big items and there are just a few other things that I'll touch on. Let me just explain quickly what they are and help align us with what our estimates are requesting of this committee in terms of support.
The first item is this year's installment of some $116 million for the ongoing construction of the offshore fisheries science vessels.
We are building a package of three of them through Vancouver Shipyards. We're well into construction mode now. This year we're bringing a substantial investment into those construction costs. Over the next two fiscal years in particular, but ongoing for maybe three years in total, we're going to see some big numbers for this program. Next year, it's going to bump up into the quarter-billion-dollar range to support this build.
Moving down a notch, we have $23.3 million for incremental operating costs. This was a year in which Fisheries and Oceans, after we had begun the year, ran into a few unexpected, unplanned requirements: things such as litigation and settlements for cases that have been ongoing for a while; things such as unexpected events, which in many cases occurred on the world stage, such as the MV Marathasa incident in the harbour at Vancouver—things that were adding up for us that we couldn't find a way to sustainably manage when we were early in the fiscal year. We sought and received approval for an incremental investment to help us with those operating surprises, if I could lightly put it that way.
Another item—and this committee has seen this a number of times—is incremental fuel for the Canadian Coast Guard. The way our operating model works is that we're funded for fuel to a certain threshold, and inevitably every year we need more than that threshold for the Coast Guard to sail all of our operations and run our icebreaking program annually. We seek, and pretty traditionally receive, a $16-million top-up. The way that particular piece of funding works is that it's only accessible should we require it. If in a particular year we actually don't need a full $16 million, the rest returns to the fiscal framework.
I won't go through every single item on this page. Moving to the next one, $6 million is the renewal of a program that had sunset, for major projects management office funding. We're bringing back in now the first year of five years. This is an example of an item that, when we appear before you on the main estimates for 2016-17, I'll be seeking to bring in for the coming four more years through the main estimates cycle.
Skipping one, I'll go to the Pacific Salmon Foundation. We flow entirely the $2 million named here through to the Pacific Salmon Foundation for a science research project that they're undertaking.
Last, just ending out the page, there are two more programs that were renewed. They have five-year funding profiles, so again we're bringing in this year's increment in supplementary estimates (C) and will bring in the remainder through the main estimates.
Slide 10 shows a number of other things that we're doing inside the house or between departments. Internally we are transferring funding between votes. What that basically allows us to do is move money that has been received in our operating vote for programs for which we wish to and would normally run a grant or a contribution with an external body. These internal transfers allow us to put the money from our operating into our grants and contributions vote. They're net-neutral; it's not a new ask.
Then the bottom item listed on that page is the transfers that are listed. There are eight of them, for which we transfer money to or receive money from a department through arrangements that have been made before the year begins. These are usually arrangements whereby we're doing collaborative projects together or we are hosting a department in one of our facilities or are paying another department to do work on our behalf. Those are all listed in the supplementary estimates (C) documents on the pages following page 2-32, or in French page 2-72, as I mentioned before.
The final slide is slide 11. This is new for us. Anybody who followed the parliamentary budget office announcement or supplementary estimates (C) profile that he put out a week ago would realize that this is a new publication. It's not accessible through the supplementary estimates publications, but it is on the TBS and PBO websites. The PBO considers this to be an element of increased transparency. What it asks of the departments now is to declare those items which it feels it will be lapsing forward to next year and say what the reason might be. This table is a replication of the table that will represent our department.
This whole table totals $28.7 million, and the vast majority is the single item on vote 5, capital expenditures. For us, as I itemize under vote 5, this is money we're pushing ahead to match our repair and maintenance needs for our vessel life extension program.
The usual issue for these things is shipyard capability and when we can get the vessels in for the major work that is required. We're moving the money ahead to match when the ships could be brought in.
That, in a nutshell, is what the supplementary estimates (C) publication represents for Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.
Thank you.
