Government Operations Committee on Feb. 26th, 2013

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

That's okay.

Thank you for that, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Thank you, Mathieu. You'll have to continue in your next round.

Now we have Peter Braid for the Conservatives.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our officials for being here today. I'm sure even though we've all had short notice, we will still have a very informed discussion this morning. I have no doubt.

My questions will start with page 8 of your slide presentation, Mr. Matthews. I have two questions to start with there.

Could you elaborate, please, on the third bullet, the amount of $29 million for the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research. I think you may have perhaps skipped over that one. If you could, just elaborate a little bit on that funding, why it's needed in the supplementary estimates (C), and what it will be used for.

[Bill Matthews]

Members may recall there was an item in previous supplementary estimates related to this organization that was for the administration costs. These amounts in fact are for the awards that were given out back in November by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, NSERC, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. They're the granting portions of those awards.

You may recall that budget 2007 allocated $30 million a year to these three organizations, which are centres of excellence for commercialization and research. These amounts correspond to the grants given to the award winners, who were chosen back in November. The department has come forward, because they are in fact ready to spend the funds. This actually is the grant portion of that program.

The breakdown is $14.2 million for the Institutes of Health Research, $7.7 million for Natural Sciences and Engineering, and $6.9 million for Social Sciences and Humanities Research. This is the grant portion only.

[Sally Thornton, Executive Director, Expenditure Strategies and Estimates, Expenditure Management Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat]

More explicitly, the centres of expertise to which these funds are going are: the Prostate Centre's translational research initiative for accelerated discovery and development, in Vancouver; MaRS Innovation, focusing on therapeutics, medical devices, and diagnostic imaging, in Toronto; the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization of medical devices, in Hamilton; and the Centre for Drug Research and Development, in Vancouver.

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

Thank you very much for that clarification. That sounds like critically important research, I might add. I suspect that in the future these amounts will be reflected in the main estimates. Is this just a timing issue or will we see these amounts in future supplementary (C)s as well?

[Bill Matthews]

You could see it in either.

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

Okay.

[Bill Matthews]

Basically, departments don't come forward looking for funding until they know they are going to need the money, so it's entirely possible that you will see them in supplementary estimates in the future. It really depends on the department.

Sally, do you have a comment?

[Sally Thornton]

For example, one of the things you saw in the last supplementary estimates was the business-led Networks of Centres of Excellence, which were basically partnerships with the private sector to try to fund innovative and collaborative business-led initiatives. You saw that in supplementary estimates (B) because the awards were made in-year, post-budget.

That program has now been continued as ongoing. Budget 2012 established it as ongoing, so you will see those amounts in the main estimates for next year, at the high level, and then more detail in the respective reports on plans and priorities of each of the organizations that delivers them, such as Industry Canada.

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

That's wonderful. Thank you very much.

A little further down that page, I also want to touch on the second-last bullet on government advertising. You mentioned that this is primarily for CRA to inform Canadians, to raise awareness among Canadians, about tax credits that are available to them. This is a very important awareness-raising campaign.

Could you give us a little more information on how that advertising is done? Is this television advertising only? Is it a range of media? Is this a new initiative of CRA in making an effort to make sure Canadians are aware of the tax credits that are available to them?

[Bill Matthews]

Typically, there is advertising done on an annual basis around tax time—and we are in tax season—largely because the tax rules often change, or there are some changes, and also to remind Canadians of which credits they may wish to take advantage of. My recollection on this is that it's mostly television, but I cannot say for certain that there are not other avenues.

[Sally Thornton]

Yes, and online: television and online.

[Bill Matthews]

Yes, online as well, so those are the two major thrusts. Typically there is advertising around this time of year, around the tax package, and we're at that time of year again.

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

I might add as well that this is in line. We had the finance committee in this room just before our committee hearing. They recently tabled a report on looking at ways to encourage Canadians to increase their charitable giving.

One of the recommendations from the finance committee in their all-party report was to ensure that CRA was advertising and promoting tax credits, particularly vis-à-vis tax credits that are available for charitable donations to Canadians, so I think that's quite in line.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

You have about 20 seconds or so, Peter, if you want a brief question.

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

A brief question.

Explain vote 15. Why is vote 15 unique and what goes under vote 15?

[Christine Walker]

Vote 15 is a central vote. It's one of the Treasury Board's central votes. What happens in vote 15 is that it's almost like a flow-through account.

What would happen is there would be, for example, a collective agreement signed. Money would go into vote 15, which would basically pay the difference between what departments already have in their budget and what the new collective agreements would have. Then we would flow through those amounts from vote 15 to the departments. It really is a mechanism to be able to control the amounts transferred to departments to make sure they're 100% in line with the collective agreements that have been signed.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

That concludes your time, Peter. Thank you very much.

Mathieu, would you like to continue?

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Could you tell me what role the national public servants' community plays in the public service?

[Christine Walker]

It's the National Managers' Community. The National Managers' Community is a grassroots community. It's meant for the managers within the public service who are managing people and managing funds. It is a voluntary network. They subscribe to the network. It is present in 14 regions across Canada. It really is an opportunity for help, to learn from other managers. They had quite a number of training sessions last year alone. There were over 12,000 training sessions—

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Forgive me, but I must stop you there. You've given me enough information. Thank you.

Does the community provide workshops on layoffs?

[Christine Walker]

I apologize, I didn't hear the end of that sentence. I do not know if they have, but I can certainly get back to you.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

If I understand correctly, the $74,000 being given is a transfer from Industry Canada. Is this the first time money has been transferred for this kind of activity?

[Christine Walker]

No, this program has been going on since the year 2000. To date, 36 departments have already transferred funds to the Treasury Board, either through the main estimates or supplementary estimates. The total transfer amount on an annual basis is about $2.7 million. Industry has just transferred it through supplementary estimates (C) this year.