Thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee for inviting me here today to participate in this review of the estimates. I am here in my capacity as a CFO representing Public Works and Government Services Canada, PWGSC. I am joined by Diane Hall, Manager of Estimates.
The history of the estimates is rooted in legislation and parliamentary tradition. This committee launched its review of the process for considering estimates and supply, and l am pleased to be part of your review along with the other parties that have appeared before you with a view to improving the effectiveness of the supply process.
As you will recall, our minister was here a month ago to present PWGSC's 2012-13 main estimates. My objective today is not to repeat the minister's presentation or to discuss the programs of my department, but rather to cover the estimates cycle from beginning to end with a view to informing this committee about the large and varied amounts of information now being provided by departments.
In addition I will overlay the timelines of the estimates documents with those of the federal budget and the public accounts, using PWGSC as a reference. That said, as the Treasury Board Secretariat is one of the stakeholders for this review, I want to emphasize that questions touching on potential changes and implementation arising from this review should be addressed directly to the secretariat. TBS manages many of the systems and procedures in the supply process at the government-wide level.
At this point I also want to acknowledge the secretariat's efforts to improve the estimates process.
I appreciate that the context for this review is to provide views on the form, content, and cycle of the estimates document. My understanding is that this committee is primarily interested in Parliament's accountability and control over expenditure, thus in voting by expenditure type versus voting by program; the timing of the estimates vis-à-vis the federal budgets; the type and format of information presented; and the usefulness of cash versus accrual information.
Any changes contemplated by Parliament to the existing estimates process dealing with timing, voting, and the type of information provided would require an examination of the pros and cons. Parliament must also be mindful that the request for additional information as a means to exercise more or better control may produce unintended consequences in terms of complexity and confusion. Therefore, Parliament may wish to take this opportunity to review the estimates and streamline information that it deems less useful and/or that causes confusion.
In principle, controls are essential to ensuring that taxpayers' dollars are directed to priority programs, that they are spent as intended, and that results are achieved. Hence, the following questions remain for your consideration: what is the right level of control and what does Parliament want to control? Is it programs or the types of expenditures with their corresponding authorities?
Now, let me describe the PWGSC funding structure for the 2011-12 main estimates.
Last fiscal year, PWGSC set out to spend $6.1 billion to fulfill its mandate as a common service provider to government departments.
Parliament ultimately approved a net appropriation of $2.5 billion, as PWGSC anticipated earning $3.6 billion, or 59% of its budget, in revenues from client government departments.
PWGSC's funding structure is more complex than that of many other departments. In 2011-12, PWGSC had 13 different funds, served over 100 departments, one of which is PWGSC, and presented information in at least six different ways to Parliament, at seven different junctures.
I understand you are interested in a walk-through of the estimates process from a PWGSC perspective. For that I have a presentation deck addressing the three key themes that have emerged from discussions with previous witnesses.
This presentation will take about 20 minutes. If you prefer, I could present it in an abbreviated fashion. Either way I would be pleased to address your questions at the end.
I understand, Mr. Chair, that you prefer the complete version. With your permission, I would now like to go to the deck presentation.