Government Operations Committee on April 25th, 2013

[Michelle Doucet]

The Privy Council Office indeed participated vigorously in both summits. There were a number of places in the Privy Council Office that supported the Prime Minister in the most recent meeting in early January, including the operations secretariat, where the policy experts on aboriginal issues would be housed, including many people in my own branch, to support the meeting actually taking place, to facilitate it—everything from the room, to food, to access to the building.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Does it not seem appropriate that it would be listed as one of the orders of government that you do intergovernmental relations? Is it just a mistake that it's not included there?

[Michelle Doucet]

I'm not in a position to speak to the question of whether summits with first nations should be listed as having to do with specific orders of government, but I can assure you that the Privy Council Office took a whole-of-department integrated approach, including with Ian's folks, to support the Prime Minister in his very important meeting with first nations in early January of this year.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

So are there dollars allocated for your continued role?

[Michelle Doucet]

We are using our existing operating dollars to do that. There were no incremental resources allocated. We were able to use the folks and resources we had on hand and to respond effectively, I believe and I hope, to first nations' needs and the Prime Minister's needs in this regard.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thanks. That's all.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Next we have Mr. Jay Aspin. You have five minutes, please, Jay.

[Jay Aspin, Conservative, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Welcome to our officials. I must say, as a new MP, that this is the first time I've had exposure to PCO work. You do important work; you do it very well. Congratulations. I'm impressed with the efficiencies you are creating.

My question is focused on communications about the EAP. I understand the communications for Canada's economic action plan are according to the communications policy of the Government of Canada. It's the PCO that is responsible for basically the advertising plan. I'd like to ask a few questions in that regard.

According to your numbers, $1.4 million has been allocated for the economic action plan. I'd just like to ask how the requested funding of $1.4 million would be used to communicate information about EAP.

[Ian McCowan]

The $1.4 million is virtually all associated with the EAP website, and the majority of the expenditure is associated with the small team that runs the thing. The intent of the EAP website is to allow for effective, efficient delivery of information about a wide variety of program services initiatives from across government, to basically knit it together in one spot for Canadians so they don't have to look in lots of different spots. It’s an efficient, one-stop shopping approach so that they can go and see what program services initiatives might be of interest to them.

[Jay Aspin, Conservative, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Thank you.

How does this amount of $1.4 million compare to amounts requested in previous estimates?

[Ian McCowan]

The EAP website was stood up in 2009–10. I can get precise figures to the committee, if that's your wish. I can indicate to you, though, that when it was first stood up, in the first year, it would have been slightly higher than the figure now, because the website was being established, but in subsequent years, when the thing was up and running, resource requirements have been lower.

I'd be happy to undertake to give you precise, year-by-year costing for the website, looking backward.

[Jay Aspin, Conservative, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Okay. That would be helpful if you could get that for our committee.

Does the requested amount of $1.4 million represent the full amount likely to be requested for the communications strategy in relation to EAP for fiscal year 2013–14?

[Ian McCowan]

It certainly does for the EAP website. As it came up in earlier questions, though, other strands of expenditures tie to EAP. For example, the EAP advertising is a separate component, and money has been allocated to departments, under that strand, for EAP advertising.

In terms of the website, this is the complete picture of the costing required to stand that up.

[Jay Aspin, Conservative, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Thank you.

Apparently, when you last appeared before us, you told us about the mandate of the Business Transformation and Renewal Secretariat. Can you tell us about the work your organization has performed since your last appearance?

[Filipe Dinis]

The secretariat has indeed continued to provide advice and secretarial support to the Priorities and Planning Sub-Committee on Government Administration.

Concrete outcomes of that activity and the deliberations of that particular committee were reflected in the recent budget, and I touched on some of those earlier this afternoon.

The second component we've been actively involved in is in supporting the clerk as the head of the public service, in setting the strategic direction guiding the overall management and renewal of the public service, which includes providing support to him in his development of his annual report to the Prime Minister.

We've also been very actively engaged in providing advice and secretarial support to the Prime Minister's advisory committee, which has recently released their annual report.

Lastly, we've been very active in monitoring developments and innovations in the public administration field and providing timely advice to the clerk.

[Jay Aspin, Conservative, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Thank you, Mr. Aspin.

Next we will go to the ever-patient John McCallum.

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

Thank you.

Madame Doucet, you mentioned earlier the various subcomponents of the internal services. You said you went around your management table and their various components.

I'm sure you don't have the numbers here now, but could you provide us, for each of those subcomponents, perhaps the FTEs and the dollars, including up to the 2015–16 forecast? Would that be possible?

[Michelle Doucet]

My understanding is that you'd like to have a breakdown of the budget in my branch through to the years you have indicated.

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

Yes.

[Michelle Doucet]

If it's the wish of the committee, I'm happy to see what I can provide in that regard.

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

Thank you very much.

My next question is in reference to page 17 of the report on plans and priorities, which says:

In support of the deficit reduction measures announced in Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012, PCO will further integrate its intergovernmental affairs function within the department in order to maximize efficiencies and streamline operations.

I wonder if someone could explain what that means—what function? Does this include the Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat, or is this other things? What does that proposal mean?

[Michelle Doucet]

The Privy Council Office has undertaken in the past few years two tranches of deficit reduction measures. The first was our strategic review commitments, which were announced in budget 2011, and then of course the deficit reduction action plan. I highlight both of those because the work on transforming intergovernmental affairs began in the strategic review exercise. At that time the strategic review team within the Privy Council Office sat down and took a look at everything we do, and they asked, where are there opportunities for efficiencies and where are there opportunities for transformation? The intergovernmental affairs structure that was in place at the time was identified as an opportunity for a place for transformation.

One of the members spoke earlier about the problems that operating in silos can create, in terms of not only just efficiencies, but really getting the best policy advice possible. With respect to intergovernmental affairs, work began on looking at how to transform it to find efficiencies, but also to continue to deliver the best policy advice possible.

Some of that work began in the strategic review, and then it was really implemented in the deficit reduction action plan in budget 2012, when the intergovernmental affairs group, which had been a stand-alone secretariat before then, with two assistant deputy ministers, I believe, and reporting on its own to a deputy minister, was integrated further within the Privy Council Office, so that it sits in the plans and consultation secretariat and reports through to that deputy minister, who has a whole-of-government view as a result of the work he does in supporting the Prime Minister on cabinet committees. They are also able to leverage their relationships with colleagues across the Privy Council Office in a much more integrated way.

By doing that, they provide specialized policy advice to the Prime Minister, to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, and to other ministers with respect to intergovernmental affairs. I believe that my colleague, Mr. McArdle, has outlined the process role that is done by his organization. While they're an important partner, that's not per se part of the Privy Council Office's work.

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

Did this change result in cost savings?

[Michelle Doucet]

Yes, it did.