Government Operations Committee on Nov. 29th, 2011

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

You mentioned some options students have to repay their loans. You say you're very flexible. Could you outline some of those opportunities and options?

[Kathryn McDade]

There is a whole range of options, beginning at the time a student first consolidates their loan. If the agreed terms are not workable for the student—they get into, say, financial difficulty—they can for a short period of time make interest-only payments, or they could renegotiate the terms of their loan. Very few students avail themselves of those opportunities.

The primary measure for students who are having repayment difficulties is the repayment assistance plan. That program was introduced in Budget 2008 and was effective in the fall of 2009 for the 2009-10 school year. Under the repayment assistance plan, a student can apply to have an affordable payment that they have the capacity to repay based on their family income and family size. In the 2009-10 year, the first year that was implemented, about 160,000 students took advantage of the repayment assistance plan.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Thank you, Scott. Your time is up.

Thank you, Ms. McDade.

We'll go to Denis Blanchette, for five minutes.

[Denis Blanchette, NDP, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses.

Last week, we had representatives from PWGSC. There was an amount of $16.5 million for a new authentication system called the Access Key service. When I started talking a little more about the content, I was told to speak to the Service Canada representatives. I think the time is now.

Where are you at in implementing the Access Key service and what are the main steps in the future? What is the estimated cost of implementing this new system?

[Paul Thompson]

I'm afraid I don't have all the details on the work we're doing on Access Key, but it's an issue we are certainly actively working on within the organization. We're looking to align the different systems with government-wide authentication processes. There are discussions across the government, with different departments, to arrive at the best solution to meet the needs of various departments, including Service Canada.

I'm afraid I don't have much more I can elaborate on at the present time.

[Denis Blanchette, NDP, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Can you give me a timeline and tell me what you will do with the $16.5 million? What steps do you see for going from epass Canada to the Access Key service? Will you be able to give me an answer later on in writing?

[Paul Thompson]

That's something we would have to follow up on. I'd be happy to follow up. I can get the answer from colleagues in Service Canada and provide that to you.

[Denis Blanchette, NDP, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Perfect. Thank you very much.

Mr. Chair, with your permission, I will give the rest of my time to Ms. Ève Péclet.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Certainly. You have about three minutes.

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I would like to speak about credits for the student loans program. It's a fairly astronomical amount because we're talking about $149.5 million. How is it that the forecasts were so wrong? I know the minister said when she appeared before the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities that this was provided for in last year's Supplementary Estimates (C). How is it that we aren't seeing it in the Main Estimates? Why carry them forward now? How is it that there is such poor foresight?

Since 13% of students cannot repay their debts, don't you think the program is missing its target? Would it be possible to review the program instead of simply requesting a repayment of $149.5 million?

[Kathryn McDade]

Without getting into all the complexities of the accounting, the government does in fact make a prediction about the level of bad debt we anticipate over the course of a year. That amount appears in the estimates. However, because Canada student loans are crown assets, there has to be an accounting when an asset is written off. The minister doesn't predict that. She doesn't do a forecast. She actually comes to Parliament with an exact accounting of the specific loans, the specific crown assets, she wants to write off.

As set out in these supplementary estimates (B), there are about 62,000 loans, in the amount of $149 million, she's asking be written off. She's bringing those forward now, as opposed to having done that earlier, because of the process the government has to undertake to write off the loans.

The minister makes a presentation to cabinet to seek approval for the writeoff of direct loans. It was just in recent months that she did that with respect to the three loans years: 2008-09, 2009-10, and 2010-11. It is only at this time that she can provide Parliament with an exact accounting of the loans she wishes to write off.

It's not that she didn't forecast it well or couldn't have foreseen it. This is a precise accounting of the writeoff.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

You have 30 seconds.

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

That's fine.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Okay, thank you.

We'll move on then to Peter Braid.

Peter.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses from HRSDC for being here this afternoon.

I want to start by following up on some of my colleague's questions about the GIS top-up. I presume that the request for the $2.6 million is in the supplementary estimates (B) because of the reality of the timing—your cut-off dates for the main estimates and the supplementary estimates (A) and the timing of the election. Is that correct?

[Alfred Tsang]

That is indeed correct, and particularly so this fiscal year because of the date of the election.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

What's the deadline for both your main estimates and then your supplementary (A)s, for your department?

[Alfred Tsang]

For our department we would prepare our main estimates in the month of October, obviously of the previous year, so around five to six months before the fiscal year begins.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

So you had a busy month last month, that's what you're telling me, for 2012?

[Alfred Tsang]

Thank you for your understanding.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Now, the $2.6 million for the GIS top-up, is that based on actuals or still estimates?

[Alfred Tsang]

It's based on an estimate that we made some time ago. Again, the timing issue is such that now we have included that item in the supplementary estimates (B).

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Very good.

This was a budget that was passed in June. The implementation of this particular initiative was in July. In terms of government, that's pretty impressive, that's pretty quick.

What did your department do to make that happen so quickly and effectively?