Government Operations Committee on May 3rd, 2016

[Kathy Fox]

I can't give you the exact number, but we can certainly make available to the committee the information on the breakdown by mode, Mr. Chair. I just don't have that number off the top of my head, and I don't want to guess.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Okay, fair enough. I'm just concerned that maybe, as an overall measure, we want to make sure that enough assessments are being done, particularly in respect of the modifications to fishing vessels that seem to be happening as fishers attempt to allow their boats to be used in particular classes and vessel sizes for fisheries, which really appears outwardly to render those vessels unsafe, and yet regulations on the fisheries side encourage those modifications. On the transport side, the regulations appear to be somewhat lax.

Do you have any insight on how fishing vessel modification is affecting overall fishing vessel safety as determined by your department?

[Kathy Fox]

When we investigate a fishing vessel occurrence, we always look at all of the factors that may have been at play, and fishing vessel stability. The work that's been done to modify fishing vessels, for whatever reason, is always part of our investigation, and has been identified as a contributing factor in many investigations. It's one of the areas that we are asking the Department of Transport to do more in order to reduce the risk.

I would just add one comment, Mr. Chair. In all of the marine occurrences that are reported to us, whether or not we conduct a full investigation with a public report, we always assess and document and then determine which ones we can learn more from and advance transportation safety more by doing a full investigation with a public report. All of them are assessed, but then we do investigations where we can make the most difference, learn the most.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Lucas, I'll go back to you back to you.

The committee is very interested in trying to have an improved process to harmonize the budgeting and estimates process. When we look at the reports on plans and priorities, I think we have something like an extra $5 million over what the main estimates asked for. If you look at the budget speech, it looks like you guys were given another $49 million. What do we expect to see when we get to supplementary estimates (A) in terms of increases and what projects might be increased? Would you feel that a process that harmonizes the estimates and the budget process would help your organization in informing our committee and also your own planning and spending purposes?

[Stephen Lucas]

Certainly. Perhaps starting with your first question, I think you met with Minister Brison, who spoke to his mandate commitment and approach to having greater clarity of reporting to Parliament and looking for opportunities to work with Parliament to harmonize the budget and estimates process. That is an area of commitment of the government that he will be proceeding with and I'm sure he would be pleased, along with his officials, to speak further to the committee about.

In regard to your question pertaining to the additional funds proposed by the budget for PCO, it addresses a number of areas that required investment. One is to upgrade IT systems, both hardware and software, and ensure that they meet security compliance standards at different security levels, given the nature of our work.

There's also support for the buildings to ensure there is a safe and effective workplace and security, and then support for some of the new functions of the government, including in regard to the Prime Minister's role as Minister of Youth, strengthened intergovernmental focus, and the focus on results and delivery for [Inaudible--Editor] Canadians.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you, Mr. Lucas.

We'll go to a five-minute round now and we'll start with Mr. McCauley.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

First of all, I'd like to thank you, Mr. Laporte, for your comments on pipelines being the safest, most reliable, and environmentally friendly way to transport oil.

Mr. McArdle, I have a couple of things to ask regarding the conference secretariat. It works out, I understand, that the provinces pay about $2 million into the $6 million, ballpark. Based on 65 meetings for the feds that we pay for, it works out to about a ballpark of $50,000 of support per meeting. Is that about correct?

[André McArdle]

I'll pass on the question to my colleague Brian.

[Brian Berry, Assistant Secretary, Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat]

I'd say that that's probably close.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Perfect. I'll go to my second question then. You want to benefit greatly from significant cost efficiencies and economies of scale within your department. For the 50 grand, have you gone out to the private sector to see how much value you can receive for that?

The reason I ask is that I spent my life in convention centres, hotels, etc., and I'll be blunt: $50,000 to provide services for a meeting does not seem like great value for our taxpayers. I apologize as I don't want to sound critical, but $50,000 for each and every meeting for support services....

[Brian Berry]

Mr. Chair, if I may, if you look at the cost breakdowns, that's an average overall, but it depends again on the number of meetings that we hold.

In the previous year we held 115 meetings. That reduced the cost to closer to $40,000. I know it's maybe not....

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Have you considered going out to bids, so to speak, or looking at how efficient the department is overall as opposed to having professional meeting planners provide the service?

[Brian Berry]

I think—and again I can only answer part of that question—from the finance side of things, it's a little bit more.

With with respect to audiovisual services and items like that, we do actually use the private sector for that, but when it comes down to the discussions in the room, the impartiality and the neutrality of our staff versus using somebody from the private sector, I think these are the issues that need to be offset.

Also, there are the translation and interpretation services that we use. We are using shared services through the Translation Bureau for those, and we don't set those rates. That amounts to a significant part of the costs of what we do.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Great. Thanks.

Mr. Lucas, I am not sure if you has a look at the Auditor General's report that came out today. In regard to GIC appointments, it states:

We concluded that issues remained in the timely appointment of qualified individuals being made to selected administrative tribunals, which affected continuity of service to Canadians. Many key positions have sat vacant for long periods.

I realize it came out at 7:30, plunk. Is it accurate? If so, what is getting done to look after it and address these issues?

[Stephen Lucas]

Mr. Chair, let me address that question.

In February, the government announced a new approach to filling Governor in Council appointments to reflect the diversity of Canada and ensure that the positions were open to Canadians and staffed on the basis of merit.

To that end—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Which they were before.... They were open to Canadians, and it was based on merit.

[Stephen Lucas]

It is a more open and transparent process that will be available through a website, where all the appointments are advertised and there are opportunities for people to participate in that regard.

As the new Governor in Council appointment process takes hold, the government is looking at interim appointments of a one-year duration to address some of the vacancies you noted, and it is attending to that as it moves forward with the new process.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Mr. McCauley, we are out of time, unfortunately.

Before we go to Mr. Grewal, I have one quick extemporaneous comment to Mr. Berry, to underscore what Mr. McCauley said. In one of my former lives, I was a partner in an event management company that had done work with the federal government. I would be very interested to see any kind of analysis you may have as to the secretariat's cost for arranging meetings, major conventions, and conferences, as opposed to private sector firms that may be out there. That is just a personal curiosity item.

I believe we have Mr. Grewal, for five minutes, please.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

My question is going to build on my colleague's questions about the digital strategy for the Prime Minister's Office. This is just to confirm that the investment that is being put into the digital strategy for the Prime Minister isn't just for our government. It will continue for future governments as well.

[Stephen Lucas]

As I think we are all very well aware, the way in which people receive news and information and interact with it has dramatically transformed over the past couple of decades. Increasingly, Canadians are turning to online sources. In fact, we are one of the most connected countries in the world, with the highest number of users of the Internet and other sources of information. To that end, there is a broader transformation under way in the support for governments in terms of communications towards a digital-by-default approach.

In that regard, there are investments that have been made and that are proposed here in terms of the estimates, as discussed, to enable that transformation from perhaps an older, paper-based system of news releases to a more interactive, digital system that delivers information to Canadians where they are, and in ways in which they would like to receive it, and that respects the policies of the government in terms of official languages and accessibility.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

I think the Prime Minister needs to get Snapchat.

According to the 2016-17 reports on plans and priorities, PCO supports “the Government of Canada’s efforts to modernize information technology (IT) through enhancements to the department’s IT networks, systems and processes.”

Now, I am sure there is a huge program to upgrade the Government of Canada's IT departments, specifically for members of Parliament and our offices, and anybody looking to save money.

To build upon the earlier point made about meetings, video conferencing is something that is not utilized enough. We have such a vast country, and we also deal internationally with a lot of different stakeholders. What are we doing to ensure that video conferencing is more accessible for everybody in government, and to ensure we can save money for our taxpayers by doing more video conferencing and less travel and face-to-face meetings? Not to say those will all be extinct, but there should be a more efficient way of running our government.

[Stephen Lucas]

Mr. Chair, to respond to the member's question, indeed one of the initiatives of the government and one of the initiatives promoted through the public service's Blueprint 2020 initiative has been to promote and enable desktop video conferencing. This has been undertaken by Shared Services Canada, and I would note that 43 organizations across government are accessing this service and are using an average of about 2.5 million minutes of video conferencing each month.

It is a tool that is being used increasingly, not just as an offset to travel costs but more fundamentally to harness technology to enable better engagement with other government employees, with colleagues in provinces and territories, and with stakeholders or Canadians to provide that input to our work in policy and program development.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Excellent.

Trade, especially with the United States, is extremely important to our country's economy. What is the PCO doing to reduce the barriers and increase trade and commerce specifically with the United States?

[Stephen Lucas]

The government is continuing to do work on advancing trade through co-operating on such initiatives as Beyond the Border and others with the United States.

At the March 10 meeting between the Prime Minister and President Obama, they looked at the importance of border modernization and work to advance key trade policy and trade commerce issues including border trade facilitation, strengthening supply chain benefits, applying innovation and innovative technologies, and addressing cybersecurity implications.

A couple of key outcomes of that were the commitments to move ahead on pre-clearance for air, land, marine, and rail and to support entry-exit information. The Privy Council Office provides a supporting role working with other government agencies in terms of the border implementation initiative.

As was noted in the Speech from the Throne, the government is committed to this area, given its recognition of the strong and critical relation with the U.S. as our friend, ally, and largest trading partner.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

We'll go now to Mr. McCauley.