Government Operations Committee on May 8th, 2018

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

I have the attachment with me, so it is a public document as far as I'm concerned. Where is the confusion? It's not a slush fund. I know exactly where the money is going, and it's line by line. I used to do bottom-line budgeting, and bottom-line budgeting allows people to manipulate the monies, as they did in the previous Conservative government. Help me out. I am a little confused as to what the problem is.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

I'm afraid his assistance will have to go for another time, unless Madam Malcolmson wants to pick up on your question.

Madam Malcolmson, you have three minutes and then we'll have to suspend for our next witnesses to approach the table.

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

I would love to hear the answer to that. What is the problem? Let's say it one more time.

[Mostafa Askari]

Again, I think you have to separate the body of the main estimates document from the appropriation bill. The appropriation bill is the legal document that you vote on, and that's the one that determines what the government can and cannot do.

If the appropriation bill does not make any reference to the table you mentioned, then that's not binding for the government. If that reference is included in the bill, then it would be binding. Really, on the final assessment of the bill I have to defer to experts on procedure in the House of Commons and see exactly how they interpret that. We talked to them, and that's exactly what they told us, that the way the vote is worded does not compel the government to follow that table, because that table is not referenced in the vote.

[Jean-Denis Fréchette]

If you look at the table in annex 2 of the main estimates, you have all the votes and all the allocations there. It's there.

At one point, under Treasury Board, you will have vote 40, Treasury Board, $7 billion. The only relationship to table A2.11 is the total, $7 billion, but there's no vote here.

It's a matter of trusting that it is related to the other. That's the only point that we're making. As Mostafa said, it is also the point that the clerk and the procedure people told us. There is no mention and, therefore, they don't know if it's bound to that A2.11 table.

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

You have about one minute left, Ms. Malcolmson.

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

The wording of the vote is already set in the main estimates. It refers to budget initiatives and doesn't yet refer to the table. When the vote on the $7 billion comes to Parliament, what should parliamentarians look for, as far as the wording is concerned, which the executive will change?

[Mostafa Askari]

There has to be a reference in vote 40 to that table specifically. That's what you're voting on. You're voting that this $7 billion is attached to that table. Otherwise, from what we have heard from the experts, that would not be binding.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much, Mr. Askari.

Gentlemen and lady, thank you so much again for being here.

Mr. Fréchette, on behalf of all of us at this table, thank you very much for all of your contributions, not only to Parliament but to the country. Your presence will be missed. We wish you great success in all of your future endeavours. Thank you again.

Colleagues, we will suspend for a couple of minutes while the PCO officials come to the table.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Colleagues, we will convene once again.

I want to welcome the officials from the Privy Council Office who are with us here today.

Mr. Shea, I understand that you have a brief opening statement, and that will be followed by questions from our committee members. As I mentioned to colleagues at the outset of this meeting, I will be suspending at approximately 10 minutes to 1 o'clock so we can have a very brief committee business session, which will be in camera.

Mr. Shea, you have about 50 minutes. That will include both your opening statement and questions. The floor is yours, sir.

[Matthew Shea, Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services, Privy Council Office]

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting the Privy Council Office, the PCO, to review our 2018-19 main estimates and departmental plan.

My name is Matthew Shea. I am the Assistant Deputy Minister of Corporate Services and the Chief Financial Officer of PCO.

I am accompanied today by Ms. Marian Campbell Jarvis, Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Social Development Policy; Mr. Shawn Tupper, Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Economic and Regional Development Policy; and Mr. Rodney Ghali, Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Impact and Innovation Unit in the Privy Council Office.

As you know, the mandate of the PCO is to serve Canada and Canadians by providing professional, non-partisan advice and support to the Prime Minister and the ministers within his portfolio, and to support the effective operation of cabinet.

PCO supports the advancement of the Government of Canada's policy, legislative, and government administration agendas and coordinates responses to issues facing the government and the country.

The head of the PCO is the Clerk of the Privy Council. The clerk also acts as secretary to the cabinet and head of the public service.

PCO has three main goals: to provide non-partisan advice and support to the Prime Minister, portfolio ministers, cabinet, and cabinet committees on matters of national and international importance, including policy, legislative, and government administration issues faced by the government; to serve as a secretariat to the cabinet and all of its committees, with the exception of the Treasury Board committee, which is supported by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat; and to foster a high-performing and accountable public service.

Like the Department of Finance and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the PCO is a central agency, and it exercises a leadership role across government departments and agencies to provide advice to the Prime Minister and cabinet as well as to ensure the coherence and coordination of policy development and delivery.

I'd like to begin with a brief overview of the 2018-19 main estimates and the 2018-19 departmental plan. PCO is seeking $166.4 million overall for its core responsibility, which is to serve the Prime Minister and cabinet, and for its internal services.

PCO will coordinate the government's efforts to deliver policy and initiatives by using a whole-of-government approach. This will include strengthening diversity and inclusion, including support to the special adviser to the Prime Minister on LGBTQ2 issues and ensuring that perspectives of transgender, non-binary, and two-spirit Canadians inform the Government of Canada's collection, use, and display of sex and gender information.

It will also include reviewing relationships with Canada's indigenous peoples and aiding the working group of ministers' review of laws and policies, as well as the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, as part of Canada's continuing effort to advance reconciliation, as well as bilaterally and multilaterally collaborating with provinces and territories on key priority areas in order to maintain and advance intergovernmental relations.

It will include ensuring that Canada has an open and accountable government, in part through regular non-partisan updates on the status of ministerial mandate letter commitments posted on the mandate letter tracker website and by supporting the government's commitment to open, transparent, and merit-based selection processes for Senate and GIC appointments.

It will also include coordinating and supporting international trade negotiations, including NAFTA, as well as supporting the Prime Minister's international travel and participation in summit-level meetings; coordinating the development of legislation and policies with regard to national security and intelligence, and responding to global concerns and threats to exports, investments, and the safety and security of Canadians; public service renewal and modernization, including the innovative impact Canada initiative and a commitment to the advancement of healthy workplaces that promote diversity and inclusion, are free from harassment and bullying, and foster innovation; and, finally, improving, strengthening, and protecting Canada's democratic institutions by supporting initiatives relating to political party leaders' debates, the elections modernization act, and political fundraisers.

We will continue to support the Prime Minister in his role as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth, and coordinate the development of policy informed by engagement with youth and youth-serving organizations, in partnership with the Prime Minister’s Youth Council.

As part of ongoing modernization efforts, we will measure performance using the departmental results framework, an approach that will focus on results rather than activities. We will also employ such analytical tools as gender-based analysis to assess policy and program implications for women, men, and gender-diverse people.

We will continue to replace and upgrade current IT infrastructure and systems as part of our information management and information technology project.

This brief summary of PCO's 2018-19 departmental plan touches on a few of the means by which PCO will continue to support the clerk as head of the public service, the Prime Minister, and cabinet as part of a whole-of-government approach.

Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide you with this context.

We would now be pleased to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Ayoub, you have seven minutes.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank the four PCO officials for being here.

It's always enlightening to see how the Privy Council Office operates.

Mr. Shea, your presentation addressed some very broad issues, and it allowed me to see that you help the Prime Minister's Office and the ministers' offices in their daily work, but I would like you to give us more details.

There are two points I would like to raise, which you touched on towards the end of your presentation.

Can you tell us more about the gender-based analysis, so we can find out what it could change? How do these tools help you give good advice for developing policies? I imagine that this kind of analysis allows you to develop policies that are in line with the philosophy of the Prime Minister and his cabinet. Can you talk a little more about this?

[Marian Campbell Jarvis, Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Social Development Policy, Privy Council Office]

Thank you for your question.

Allow me to explain how we study policies.

It is normally done within the departments: They conduct analyses of their programs as well as the major trends, and then propose policies. Our role is to ensure the quality of these analyses, in collaboration with our colleagues at the Department of Finance and at the Treasury Board Secretariat.

We establish the connection with the government's main priorities, and we examine the viability and sustainability of the projects. We then advise the cabinet.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Allow me to interrupt you.

I would like to have some concrete examples of changes that the gender-based analysis tools have brought you. What results have you been able to achieve with these tools? Are there any? I don't know.

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

We did a gender-based analysis to advise the other departments, including Status of Women Canada, and to make sure that the consequences policies have on women and on other Canadians are properly understood. It's hard to give a concrete example, but it applies to all policies and certainly to programs. We need to include the consequences in the analysis.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Does it take into account minorities, or only gender-diverse people? Does it encompass visible minorities, non-visible minorities and indigenous peoples? Does this tool have a wide application, or does it solely focus on gender identity?

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

It is a gender-based analysis plus, or GBA+. The “+” sign refers to the intersectionality between people. As you mentioned, this includes indigenous peoples, but also members of minority groups, in the context of access to services within society.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Do you have an example of how this type of analysis would tell us if this tool is of any value? If so, could you send the analysis to the committee? That would be very informative.

I only have seven minutes, so, let's go to another subject.

I want to talk about the budget now. Do you think that you will ask for more funds for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in the supplementary estimates? Furthermore, when will we know if the government has agreed to extend the mandate of this inquiry?

Feel free to answer in English. Maybe it will go a little faster. For me, it's faster in French, but you can answer in English. It's no problem for me.

[Matthew Shea]

Thanks very much.

I'll handle that question.

From a budgetary perspective, $53 million was set aside for the inquiry, so the budget this year is part of that $53 million. They're entitled to any of the spending for that $53 million, regardless of fiscal year. Once the books close and we do public accounts, whatever they didn't spend last year will be made available to them this year. We would come back to this committee to ask for that in a supplementary estimates cycle.

As far as the individual reports and the work of the inquiry are concerned, it would not be appropriate for us at PCO to comment on that. Our role is arm's-length support from an administrative and financial perspective.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Okay.

I have about a minute left.

Would anyone like to ask a question?

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

I have a quick question.

Can you tell me something about the innovative cities agenda that you are dealing with?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Give a brief response, if you could. You have about 34 seconds.

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Be very brief, and then I'll get my turn.