Government Operations Committee on Dec. 2nd, 2010

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

In other words, there is no cushion, and basically this is a catch-all fund to dip into whenever you need to.

[Alister Smith]

It has vote wording that governs its use, and we use it in as limited a way as we possibly can. There are always going to be certain contingencies: fires, floods, and all kinds of reasons why departments need short-term infusions of cash. They replace the funding at the next available supplementary estimates.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I guess the biggest concern is the lack of a cushion.

Let me ask about the $300 million for AECL, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. Part of that is to wind down the dedicated isotope facility, I believe. Would that be the MAPLEs? I've been in that building where the MAPLEs are located. What are they doing with that building? Do you know?

[Alister Smith]

I don't know.

Maybe Mr. Enns has a comment.

[David Enns]

I'm not certain of that. I can tell you a little bit about what the funds are being used for by AECL.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

That isn't what I'm looking for. I was particularly interested in the MAPLEs. I'm sure we can find out more about the other things being spent on.

Let me ask about the part in relation to Point Lepreau in New Brunswick. Apparently, the plan is not to replace a few of the 380 calandria tubes, but the plan now is to replace all of them. This refurbishment of Point Lepreau has already been going on for several years. It looks like this is going to add a lot more time or quite a bit more time to the already extensive time taken to repair this. The question is, does this include the spending that's going to be needed to finish the job?

[David Enns]

Yes, it does.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Mr. Vincent, you have five minutes. Go ahead, please.

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It is interesting hearing your testimonies and listening to the discussions. We are trying to save money by freezing budgets. Yet I'm sure that, at the end of next year, all the departments will appear before the committee to ask for more money because they have not anticipated this or that. One even told us that it would request additional money for a wage increase granted in April.

It seems to me that when we know that there's going to be a wage increase, we provide for it in the budget. We don't get to the end of the year and suddenly realize that there was a wage increase and we have not anticipated it. This increase was agreed to in April. Something is not working. I would like to talk to you about the freeze and the Canada Border Services Agency.

But first, I have a question for you. I checked the reallocations total and I saw that the cutbacks come to $181 million. Is that the correct amount?

[Alister Smith]

My colleague will check that number.

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

All right. While he's checking the amount, I am going to ask you a question about the Canada Border Services Agency.

We know there are customs offices for people who buy goods outside Canada and who have to pay customs duties. There are customs offices in all of our regions. In Shefford, my constituency, the Granby customs office will be closing.

Why would an office that shares the space with the CBSA be shut down? The CBSA is giving the office to customs for free with all the equipment included. The customs service in my riding only pays for the phone. Why would you want to shut down an office that collects $1 million per week in customs duties for the government? It doesn't cost anything, except for a phone line. Why do you want to shut that office down?

Meanwhile, Mr. Enns, could you check the amount of the reduction?

[David Enns]

What's the figure you were referring to? I do have my notes here, but....

[A voice]

It's $181 million.

[David Enns]

For...?

[A voice]

CBSA.

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

One hundred and eighty million dollars. In the document we were given, we can see all the cuts to the departments. There are actually about 20 that suffered cuts. For example, the Department of Agriculture suffered a $3,112,980 cut. There is a complete list with a total of $180 million at the end. I just wanted to know whether the $180 million figure was accurate.

I will ask my question about the closure of the customs office again. Could you tell me why you are trying to save pennies on a telephone line?

[Alister Smith]

I'm pretty sure I can speak for my colleague here. We would not know that level of detail, why that particular office was shut down, but I would be happy to take the question back to CBSA and ask them to respond to you. But we don't have that information.

It's a good question, certainly.

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I would appreciate an answer.

There's also a budget freeze for the Correctional Service. If we needed hundreds of millions of dollars, I guess the government...

You told us earlier that we have to save taxpayers' money, to reduce expenses, and so on, but perhaps we could have reduced the summit expenses, by holding the G8 and G20 summits in the same place. If we had, we would have saved $100 million or so and we wouldn't have been forced to cut department budgets.

What do you think about that?

[Alister Smith]

Well, that's an interesting suggestion, but I guess it's too late now.

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Was there no one in the departments to say that, since the same people, so to speak, were attending those events, the summits could be held in the same place and, as a result, we could save $100 million?

Since the government says that it wants to be transparent, I think that would have been a good opportunity.

[Alister Smith]

These decisions, of course, are taken by the minister responsible and the deputy responsible for the agency, and they have to rationalize their operations continually. I think they're the only ones who could respond to your question as to why they made certain decisions and why that particular office was closed and another one opened.

I assume they would make these decisions on the basis of needs and requirements, but that's something we will have to ask them because we don't know.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Mr. Vincent.

Thank you, Mr. Smith.

Mr. Calandra for five minutes, please.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, and thanks for being here. I guess I share some of Mr. Regan's frustrations, specifically with AECL. It frustrates me that we're constantly seeing AECL asking for more, and it's never a small amount. It's always $200 million, $300 million, and I know you can't answer that, but it really is something that in the two years that I've been here has frustrated me almost more than anything else.

I tend to want to always congratulate the people who come here from the public service because the last couple of years, of course, have been very challenging, and whether it's the departments of transport, infrastructure, or finance, what we've asked you to do in the last two years through Canada's economic action plan has been truly extraordinary, and the speed with which you've been able to work to make sure that we implement the economic action plan has been truly amazing to see. Of course, we know that the Auditor General recently reported very positively with respect to how the infrastructure program was implemented.

I have a question, though, on CIDA. CIDA is getting $173 million. Can you tell me what that is for?

[David Enns]

Yes, I'll try to answer that for you.

There are a couple of specific programs that funding is being provided for in the areas of maternal, newborn, and child health. They've organized these programs along three themes, if you will. One is strengthening health systems to improve service for maternal, newborn, and child health at the local level. This involves training more health care workers at the local level. There are other initiatives that are undertaken in cooperation with other governments, other jurisdictions. The second volet, if you will, of that is to reduce the burden of disease; this is the provision of vaccines to mothers and children. And the third is related to nutrition and improving the access of these people to healthful and nutritious food and essential nutrients.

So those are the three themes under which those services are being delivered by CIDA.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

So that's stemming, then, I heard you say, from the G-8 commitments?