Evidence of meeting #132 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was phoenix.
A video is available from Parliament.
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
Carla Qualtrough Liberal Delta, BC
We have to give them time to gel as a board, to hire and work with the new CEO and any management changes that happen as a result.
They've already tabled their corporate plan for this year, so I expect by the end of this year or early next year we'll see something coming out of Canada Post to share with us their thinking on the future of this organization.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC
You mentioned that relationships with the unions have been greatly improved since Ms. McDonald's appointment. I have heard from the unions themselves that they believe things are looking better, but some still insist on mentioning the tensions they feel at the work level, of bullying more than anything else. I wonder if you've been made aware of these issues and how we intend to deal with them.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
Carla Qualtrough Liberal Delta, BC
Absolutely. I'm very alive to this issue. It's something I've been engaged with personally in conversations with Ms. McDonald, with the union, with the union members who have come to me personally with their issues.
I was presented with binders and binders of complaints by the union. We recognize, first of all, this is absolutely unacceptable. While Canada Post has a policy against harassment and bullying, there's a fundamental culture shift that we all recognize has to happen within this organization to get the change that is required to eliminate this kind of behaviour on the floor, for lack of a better way of putting it.
I've met with employees. I've spoken. I've written to Ms. McDonald on this issue, and I'm very regularly updated on initiatives that are being taken.
I think fundamentally, as much as I said the relationship has improved, it has hiccups and more work needs to be done to improve those relations. Tensions exist. Aside from whatever that relationship is, fundamentally we have zero tolerance in our governments for bullying and harassment and that required culture change needs to be a top priority for both senior management and the new board.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Thank you very much. Committee and Minister, before we go to the second round of five minutes, I'd like to seek your indulgence. I know you have given us an hour and that would be noon, but we started a little late, so would you mind going five minutes extra?
The first five-minute round would be Mr. Kelly.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
Thank you, Minister.
According to the departmental plan for National Defence, your government is actually spending significantly less than what was promised. Can you explain the discrepancy?
May 10th, 2018 / 11:40 a.m.
Michael Vandergrift Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
It would really be for the Department of National Defence to reply on the status of their expenditures year over year. The government has committed to significant investments in defence through the “strong, secure, engaged” policy, and those investments are rolling over in the next several years.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
I'm sorry, but that's a little disappointing as an answer, because the Minister of Defence repeatedly defers to you when asked the same question. It's not acceptable to have two ministers passing the ball back and forth. The minister was asked on multiple occasions, including at committee of the whole, who is responsible for getting the money out so that important projects can be undertaken to supply our troops.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
Carla Qualtrough Liberal Delta, BC
It might be helpful for you to give me a specific example as far as the way we work with client departments, most closely with defence, for obvious reasons. Defence identifies a need and our department works the process through. If it's a process question you have, if there are concerns about how long it's taking on a specific acquisition, we can certainly answer that question.
If they haven't made their request, or if they haven't identified the need, then we don't dictate that. We don't tell them they said they were going to ask us to do these things and they haven't. It's really their ball to carry and I think that's fair.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
There are a number of significant needs that have been readily identified. Our air force needs new fighter jets. Our navy needs new ships. Our army needs new vehicles and ammunition. These are well-known needs that have been discussed ad nauseam and it is frustrating to seemingly see no action on these important things. Here we are again at another meeting being told that you don't know, that you're waiting for somebody else to tell us.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
Carla Qualtrough Liberal Delta, BC
With respect, I'm not saying that. I gave you an update on the ships and the fighter jets. We are making progress on both those files— and significant progress, I would say.
Michael, I don't know if you want to add anything, but we are moving forward with these acquisitions.
11:45 a.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
We are making progress on those major acquisitions. We've also taken steps to try to streamline defence procurements in certain areas. For example, we are giving increased authorities to National Defence to run its own lower-value procurements, so that PSPC can concentrate on the higher-value ones and DND can do more throughput on lower-value ones to help increase the—
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
Maybe you can give us some more specific time frames on fighter jets and shipbuilding?
11:45 a.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
On fighter jets, the competition is launched for the permanent fleet replacement. We hope to have our draft RFP out this fall and the whole RFP out in the spring of 2019 for jets to have a contract awarded in 2021-22 with operations in 2025. That's what the government had committed to achieve and we're on track to achieve what the government had committed to on the—
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
11:45 a.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
That's right, for 2020.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
Say that again, about the expectation of completion of the acquisiton?
11:45 a.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
The date for that is 2025. That's when the jets are fully operational, the training is done, and they're fully operating in the fleet, etc.
11:45 a.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
There are a lot of steps in that process—getting the infrastructure in place, training....
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
So the awarding of the contract is 2021. Is that what you said?
11:45 a.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
That's right.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
It seems that many of our allies find ways to procure their equipment a lot more quickly and efficiently than we can. I think there's tremendous work still to be done in this area.
Why does a 400-page budget devote no pages to National Defence?