Evidence of meeting #33 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was billion.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Deputy Minister, Deputy Receiver General for Canada, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The simple answer to the question is that on the issue of the pay transactions, the 95% mentioned has to be processed within an established timeframe, and right now, we are able to report that we're at 95.7%.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Who audits that to make sure you're telling the truth and not making it up yourself?
Deputy Minister, Deputy Receiver General for Canada, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Oh. I understand your question.
We have a committee that I chair with the associate deputy minister. On a quarterly basis, we sit down and we review the report card. Assistant deputy ministers—and the one responsible for that measure is here today—have to report to it.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Do you report it to yourselves, or do you report it to another department?
Deputy Minister, Deputy Receiver General for Canada, Department of Public Works and Government Services
We report to ourselves in the sense that it's a report card with measures that we have established as being meaningful measures in the department, and the assistant deputy minister is responsible for reporting this data to the table.
Deputy Minister, Deputy Receiver General for Canada, Department of Public Works and Government Services
By the way, if I may, Mr. Chair, I think this is important. This information is shared with my audit committee that I chair, with three external members.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Okay. There are some outside eyes that do look at it then. Thank you.
Under “Analysis of Program Activities”—I'll just pick a few because I have questions on a number on them, but I don't have much time. Under “Accommodation and Real Property Assets Management: Financial and Human Resources”, you had a planned net expenditure of $1.9 billion for this year.
Would you say you met that? That was in your plans and priorities. My difficulty is that I can't add this up without doing it. It says 1.9....
Deputy Minister, Deputy Receiver General for Canada, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes.
This is where the CFO comes in handy. If I may, Mr. Chair.
Conservative
Alex Lakroni Chief Financial Officer, Finance Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
The question is whether the $1.9 billion is spent?
Chief Financial Officer, Finance Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Okay. In your planning for next year, you have it down to $1.7 billion. That's rounding up, so there's a few hundred million dollars not in there, but the FTEs actually go up. Why is that? Why does spending go down and FTEs go up?
Chief Financial Officer, Finance Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Because the way we deliver the programs—and the real property representative is here and can elaborate—is that we choose the right mix. As the deputy mentioned, we are project-driven. For each project, we choose the right mix of resources. Some projects require hiring staff or using staff; other projects require outsourcing, etc. Other projects require professional services. So it's not a linear correlation between the spending and the number of FTEs.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
For us, we wouldn't be able to follow the bouncing ball, where if numbers change, the FTEs could go up or down. It doesn't matter.
Chief Financial Officer, Finance Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Correct.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
On the transformation to the pay and administration, my understanding then is, if I've got this right, that all pay is going to come out of your department for the public service. Is that correct? I don't understand what is happening there.
Deputy Minister, Deputy Receiver General for Canada, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes, it will. The intent is twofold. Right now, it is administered throughout, so we would centralize that to the tune of about 550 people in Miramichi, which will now become the centre of expertise, and pay will be administered for the federal public service through that centre in Miramichi.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Are people from different departments being transferred to Miramichi, if they choose to go?
Deputy Minister, Deputy Receiver General for Canada, Department of Public Works and Government Services
It is. If they want, yes.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Chairman, I was asking the assistant deputy minister earlier on, and out of the first wave.... We're going to do that through waves. We won't just hire 500 people. There will be three waves of about—I think the first one is about 130-odd individual employees. If my memory serves me, 40 individuals right now have put their hands up, saying they're interested in being considered for a position in Miramichi.
Conservative
Deputy Minister, Deputy Receiver General for Canada, Department of Public Works and Government Services
This is the beginning of the project.
Conservative
Deputy Minister, Deputy Receiver General for Canada, Department of Public Works and Government Services
It's going to be a seven-year project.