Government Operations Committee on April 3rd, 2008

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Indeed, the Privy Council isn't responsible for these—

[Marc O'Sullivan]

It's the agency that conducts investigations when there are accidents. I assume it's investigating the recent tragedy.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Is it an agency that conducts public investigations at the Prime Minister's request?

[Marc O'Sullivan]

It investigates when accidents happen. Ms. Wendy Tadros chairs the organization. I don't know the background. I don't know why it's in the Prime Minister's portfolio. Sometimes it's a historical question, sometimes—

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

You don't know where to put it, so you put it there.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

I would think it's more historical, because it's a board that investigates all major accidents, air and others. As soon as a plane has a problem somewhere, this group goes and sees what happened.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

The reason I asked questions is that, previously, there was simply one heading entitled “Safety Investigations”, whereas it's now been broken down. That's fine.

There's one thing that isn't here. Since Mr. O'Sullivan is here, I only want to ask him one question. Another item that's extremely costly is information technologies. I remember, since I was a public servant as well, major technological orientations, where we were headed toward what was called shared systems in the area of infrastructures, applications development and so on.

Can you give us a snapshot and tell us where that stands?

[Marilyn MacPherson]

Not really; it's the Treasury Board that handles shared systems, and I'm not entirely sure—

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

All right. So, in the Privy Council, you don't necessarily have a say on the orientation that can take. This is nevertheless a major budget item, and major projects were undertaken some 15 years ago, if I remember correctly. I remember approaches made to the Privy Council. That's why I was wondering whether the major budget items had been followed up.

[Marilyn MacPherson]

There may be someone at the Privy Council who knows the details, but—

[Marc O'Sullivan]

We would have to check, madam.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

You can get back to us on that, if someone has some follow-up on the subject. That's fine.

I'd like to have a simple explanation. In the chapter on the votes of the various departments—but here as well—there is a heading where we see a decline in amounts allocated, in particular contributions to the employee benefits plan. Can you give me an explanation on that subject? Is that simply the result of attrition, retirements?

[Marilyn MacPherson]

The contribution rate is determined by the Treasury Board. The percentage was 18.5% last year, but it's 17.5% this year. That establishes the employer contributions for the Canada Pension Plan and all other social benefits.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Do I have a minute or 30 seconds left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Yes. I've been quite flexible this morning.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you.

With regard to the Department of Public Works and Government Services, you explained a little earlier that you periodically review the various programs and portfolios of the various departments. When did you conduct the last evaluation of the Department of Public Works and Government Services? Was there any question of the sale of buildings?

[Marc O'Sullivan]

We don't evaluate the departments as a whole. We coordinate and closely monitor the implementation of government priorities. As regards the specific question of the sale of buildings, I must check with my colleagues to see who is familiar with that file and where it now stands. We focus on key aspects of the government agenda.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

You can simply file the two follow-ups with the committee, the one on the technology question and that on the sale of the buildings, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Thank you.

We'll end with Mr. Angus.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

I'm still trying to get a sense of the difference between the role of the secretariat and the role of the commission. It has always been the privilege of the Prime Minister to appoint certain key positions—for example, the head of the CBC. Recently the heritage department and the CBC have undertaken a headhunting process to make sure that whoever comes in actually knows something about broadcasting. But then it would still have to go back to the Privy Council. Was there not always a budget in place to vet appointments and to ensure that whoever the Prime Minister was giving his imprimatur to was the right candidate?

[Marc O'Sullivan]

The secretariat within PCO where I work, the senior personnel secretariat, coordinates and does the staff work for Governor in Council appointments. When it comes to heads of agencies such as the CBC, we run the selection processes. We're the ones who work closely with the agency in question and the department in developing selection criteria, advertising the position, and then, if necessary, hiring a search firm, or sometimes the organization hires a search firm and launches a process.

I personally sat in on the process that ended up with Hubert Lacroix's recommendation as a qualified candidate for the position, an extraordinary man, a top-flight lawyer who, while in one of the most senior positions in the legal community in Montreal, on weekends would go off and do des reportages on amateur sport across the world for CBC, and was also a top-flight marathon runner. He qualifies for Boston every year. So he's a very driven A-type personality who showed the knowledge, the experience, the expertise, and the drive that you want in a top-flight CEO like that.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

That has always been a role within PCO. So is there a separate budget pocket or envelope for this, then, for the secretariat?

[Marc O'Sullivan]

Yes, the operation budget of the secretariat.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

So was all the money that was assigned last year for the secretariat spent, or did it go back to the Treasury Board?

[Marilyn MacPherson]

Are you talking about the organization inside PCO, or are you talking about the secretariat?