Government Operations Committee on March 14th, 2012

[Michelle d'Auray]

Absolutely.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Those are my questions.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Thank you, Mike.

Denis Blanchette, you have five minutes, if you wish.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Auray, on the one hand, you are transferring $9.9 million to Shared Services Canada for employees and so on, but, on the other hand, you are investing $2.4 million in infrastructure renewal. Considering that you are transferring the operating budget, the payroll and the investment portion, what is that $2.4 million for?

[Michelle d'Auray]

I will probably ask Ms. Walker to give you more details, but I can tell you that we had to invest because we split the system. Previously, we had an integrated system in the Department of Finance, but we had to split it up. The Treasury Board Secretariat is the only organization in charge of managing the system. Part of that will also be transferred to Shared Services Canada, as this infrastructure comes under that agency's authority.

Be that as it may, that investment is necessary because the system had to be split, and a secretariat-specific system had to be set up. That system is now transferred as an infrastructure to Shared Services Canada.

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

Does the Department of Finance not transfer its portion?

[Michelle d'Auray]

Yes, it does. The split was made before Shared Services Canada was created. The infrastructure still has to be maintained, and that portion will be transferred to Shared Services Canada. It has actually already been transferred, and the Department of Finance part will be transferred as well.

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

In other words, even though you are making transfers to Shared Services Canada, strictly in terms of operations, you are still doing work that will eventually be transferred to that agency.

[Michelle d'Auray]

We are just completing the transfers. At the same time, for the sake of exercise and transparency, we had to allocate money to the Treasury Board Secretariat before sending it to Shared Services Canada, so that it would be clear in terms of appropriations.

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

Another interesting aspect is your savings with the Public Service Health Plan benefit card. Could you tell us more about that? After all, we are talking about a significant amount of money.

[Michelle d'Auray]

I will ask Ms. Walker to answer that question.

[Christine Walker, Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services, Treasury Board Secretariat]

Thank you very much for the question.

The public service health care card was introduced a year and a half ago. The cost drivers for the Public Service Health Care Plan are really four things: the number of people—how much it's being used—the price of the good or service that it's being used for, the salary of the people within the plan, and the number of people within the plan.

What the introduction of the health card was able to do is work on the price. What it did was make it mandatory for people who wanted prescriptions to have generic drugs, unless prescribed differently by their doctors. The second thing it did was put a ceiling price on drugs so that pharmacies couldn't charge above that price.

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

Okay. So your savings mostly come from the prices of medication.

[Christine Walker]

Exactly.

And there are other savings as well, but that's the most significant.

[Michelle d'Auray]

There is another very interesting aspect. In the past, people had to submit forms to insurance companies. They had to send them supporting documents. That’s done automatically with the card. Therefore, we save on paperwork, and that leads to considerable administration savings.

It also enables us to monitor appropriate use. Previously, in order to do audits, we had to go through whole boxes of documents, including receipts, to validate claims. Now, we can monitor all claims simultaneously, not one at a time, to decide whether the insurer processes the claims properly.

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

Will the savings be recurring or only partly so, if, for instance, next year we realize that administering all that carries a cost?

[Michelle d'Auray]

They will be recurring.

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

Okay.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

I'm afraid that's your five minutes.

I know; it was just getting good, too.

The Conservatives have very generously offered—

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

We're going to share our time with the Liberals.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

—to share their time with the Liberals, as I was just about to say.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Of course, it's in a non-partisan question; otherwise, we'll take our time back.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Right. He reserves the right—

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

All my questions are non-partisan.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

—to withdraw his generosity.

John, you have five minutes.