Evidence of meeting #28 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 41st Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was certification.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes, most of it is salary.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
You do claim to play a pretty important role. How much of that budget, after salaries, is dedicated to promotion, so Canadians actually know that these standards exist?
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Essentially our communications are through the publication of standards, which we do through third-party providers—others ask us to publish the standards—and our website. That's where the promotion is, through web promotion, etc. We do very little in terms of active promotion.
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
The web promotion is about $60,000 a year.
Acting Director General, Services and Specialized Acquisitions Management Sector, Department of Public Works and Government Services
It would be under $100,000 for sure.
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Selling the standards is—
Acting Director General, Services and Specialized Acquisitions Management Sector, Department of Public Works and Government Services
A bigger enterprise....
There is another side of that because all the work that we do is also reflected in the work that is done by the Standards Council of Canada, and they have an extensive budget for promoting the national standards system and the standards that are developed in the national standards system. So as our products go forward, for example, we have a website where we post information about what we're doing. We give advance notification. The Standards Council also posts information on their website. They actually provide, for example, an information access point for Canadians, Canadian companies, Canadian private citizens, to access Canadian standards. They provide an information service if you have a question about what does this mean or how do Canadian standards relate to ISO.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
Even Mr. Martin, who is well attuned to these kinds of things, didn't know that this existed really. How do Canadians who should know find out? You seem to be flying under the radar.
Acting Director General, Services and Specialized Acquisitions Management Sector, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I think it's a really good comment. Part of the mandate of the Standards Council of Canada is to support education, including working with consumer groups, for example, to educate Canadians. So a part of that budget is dedicated to that. I don't have the figures here.
Acting Director General, Services and Specialized Acquisitions Management Sector, Department of Public Works and Government Services
No, that's ours, theirs is much bigger.
Acting Director General, Services and Specialized Acquisitions Management Sector, Department of Public Works and Government Services
The reason for that of course is that it's not just about CGSB. It's about CSA, ULC, and all these different entities so that Canadians understand.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
I see sometimes they do commercials on television so that people know about them and they know to look for it on products.
Acting Director General, Services and Specialized Acquisitions Management Sector, Department of Public Works and Government Services
They do, because of course what they're doing is they want to instill the notion of confidence and quality and the fact that you can rely on the product that they produce, that they certify.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
If I were to buy a product your seal could be, or would not necessarily be, on that product?
Acting Director General, Services and Specialized Acquisitions Management Sector, Department of Public Works and Government Services
You're absolutely right in the sense that where we certify we'll have a mark. It will be ours and it will be very clear. But any certification body in Canada can certify and we can too. We can certify to another organization's standard. We are not limited to certifying to our own. For example, CSA can certify to a CGSB standard. In fact, in some cases we're working jointly with CSA together to develop a standard.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
So I were to buy an electrical product, for example, in a dollar store compared to a Best Buy, is why I'm paying a dollar at a dollar store and $5 for what looks like the same product at a Best Buy because of a standard that the Best Buy product is ascribing to, whereas the dollar store product is not?
Acting Director General, Services and Specialized Acquisitions Management Sector, Department of Public Works and Government Services
It's possible. This is, again, where you have to understand what the relative costs of the product are.
But I would say this. There's a lot of misunderstanding so, for example, often you will see a CSA mark on a product. If it's an electrical product it does not certify the quality of the product, it is certifying that you won't be electrocuted. It's certifying the electrical component of that product. So, again, often it's about the scope of what that certification means. That's another part of considering.
Conservative
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
Your time is already up, but I will allow you a few more seconds.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
If your office would cease to exist tomorrow what would happen? What would be the implications of that?
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
The standards—