Evidence of meeting #37 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was number.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
I think a lot of them have been writing to us, actually.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
I'm certain of it. Are you willing to give us a preview as to what your findings are?
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
The report will be up until this point, is that correct? What's the timeframe that we'll be seeing it?
4:50 p.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
I think we're finishing off field work. It's pretty much finished off, and we're into discussing the drafts.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Okay. That's fantastic. I really appreciate that.
I think I probably have just a little bit more time, but I did want to ask those questions before we let you go.
You've made some recommendations specifically on the issue of revamping the policy on social insurance numbers. Other than that, is there any really important specific advice you would give to the departmental officials? I recognize that a lot of this is going to be policy discussion directed by the ministry or the minister, but what other things would you like to see happen here?
4:50 p.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
The two main issues are the policy and the quality of the information in the register. The department has to put in place a quality management program to establish targets on the quality they want in that, and then they have to systematically work on it and track it over time to make sure that the quality is improving.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Okay.
In terms of quality, I'm just not sure as to what the problem is, specifically. You've seen shortcomings in the quality of the information. Is it people not giving the correct birthdays, or inconsistent information?
4:50 p.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
They don't have targets established and they don't systematically measure the quality in the registry. The question of the excess numbers of cards indicates to us that the quality is not where it should be.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Is it specifically about the existence of duplications?
4:50 p.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
It is in part, yes; as well, they're establishing links with the vital statistics, and that will help to improve the quality as well, but they're not systematically checking if the quality is good or not.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
They're not checking if another person with this exact birthday and this exact spelling of the name is already in the system under a different part number.
4:50 p.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
That's right, or it can be whether they update the information correctly when people are going through programs, and all this kind of stuff.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Respecting the taking of polls, we were told departments must keep that information in their records, which they have not always done. I don't care whether or not they've recorded them, the fact is that they did not provide justification for them, nor did they inform Public Works and Government Services Canada of them. I haven't read the entire report; I only focused on built heritage.
If, within a department, officials do things that are outside their jurisdiction, in other words they overstep their authority, they spend funds without justification or they do not proceed in compliance with the Financial Administration Act, is that a serious mistake, or is it minor?
4:50 p.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
During the initial audit, we discovered that 20% of the time these people did not justify the need for a poll. When we went back, the percentage still stood at 20. So in 80% of cases there was some justification, but the situation had not improved.
4:50 p.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
The most important thing is that under the policy, they should advise an expert panel on polling at Public Works of the nature of the poll, provide a rationale, etc. This expert panel could okay the poll, see whether other polls were done elsewhere and, if need be, take on a coordination function.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
All of this to avoid duplication to prevent the taking of a second poll six months after the first, over which time there would probably have been no changes.
4:50 p.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
That is correct.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Granted we, in political parties, are well aware of the number of polls being done and who commissions them. They are rather expensive. Some may wonder what the point is and whether the situation can change over such a short timeframe. At the end of the day, polls provide a snapshot of the situation at a given point in time. That is my personal opinion.
Thank you, Ms. Fraser.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Okay.
I don't see any further questions.
I thank you very much for coming before the committee.
