Government Operations Committee on March 8th, 2016

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

This will be the fourth meeting of government operations and estimates.

Before we hear from our witnesses, I have some business for the committee and I'd like to have some consensus on this, if possible.

The next two afternoons and evenings we will have ministers appearing before the committee. We have a request to make these appearances televised, and I would ask the committee if they would give their concurrence to allowing the meeting tomorrow evening and the meeting on Thursday afternoon to be televised.

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

Yes.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Who is specifically requesting they be televised?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Broadcasting.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you.

We have witnesses before us. The difficulty we have today is that because of votes we are running a little late. Normally we have 10-minute opening statements per witness. I have consulted with some of our committee members, and the consensus seems to be that we would like to have as much time as possible for questions, so I would ask both of our presenters to try to keep their comments to no more than 10 minutes a piece to allow enough time for the committee members to ask questions. Any unpresented information can be read into the record a little later.

With that, perhaps we can start with Madam Doucet. Would you mind introducing yourself, the officials you have with you, and your statement following that, please.

[Michelle Doucet, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services, Privy Council Office]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. My name is Michelle Doucet and I am the assistant deputy minister of corporate services at the Privy Council Office. I'm here today with Madam Karen Cahill, who is the deputy chief financial officer and the executive director of the finance planning and administrative directorate at PCO. We're delighted to be here. We look forward to answering your questions.

I'm going to begin my remarks with some context by briefly explaining the mandate of PCO and its three principal roles. The mandate of the Privy Council Office is to serve Canada and Canadians by providing professional, non-partisan advice and support to the Prime Minister, the ministers within the Prime Minister's portfolio and cabinet. The Prime Minister is responsible for this organization.

PCO supports the development of the Government of Canada's policy, legislative, and government administration agendas, coordinates responses to issues facing the government and the country, and supports the effective operation of cabinet. PCO is led by the Clerk of the Privy Council. In addition to serving as the deputy head for PCO, the clerk also acts as secretary to cabinet and the head of the public service.

PCO has three main roles.

First, we provide non-partisan advice to the Prime Minister, portfolio ministers, cabinet and cabinet committees on matters of national and international importance. This includes providing advice and support on the full spectrum of policy, legislative, and government administration issues faced by the government.

Second, PCO is the secretariat to cabinet and all of its committees, except the Treasury Board, which is supported by the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Third, PCO fosters a high-performing and accountable public service.

We deliver all three roles to our people who provide advice, coordination, and support. Unlike many other departments, PCO doesn't deliver programs. We spend the funds that Parliament appropriates to us on salaries, operating costs, and services received from other government departments. As such, PCO is governed by the same financial and administrative requirements under which all departments operate.

I would also add that, like the Department of Finance and the Treasury Board Secretariat, PCO is something called the central agency, and as such, has the central coordinating role across the government to provide advice to the Prime Minister and cabinet and to ensure policy coherence and coordination on their behalf.

Now I'd like to give you some details on PCO's supplementary estimates (C) for the current fiscal year. In these supplementary estimates, PCO is seeking $4.2 million for the following items: $1.6 million to both complete the work related to the coordination of a government-wide communications approach for Canada's economic action plan under the former government and to begin to modernize the Prime Minister's digital presence.

Of that amount, $1 million is for the operation of what was the communications component of the economic action plan, which ended following the 2015 election. The EAP funding would support a team of five public servants within PCO. The focus of their work since the election has been on properly archiving the appropriate records, both digital and analog, and on closing out the EAP. As well, this team continues to provide support to the communication of government priorities.

The second portion of that funding is $0.6 million, and that's for activities relating to support of the Prime Minister's official web presence. The Privy Council Office provides support for the maintenance of the Prime Minister's Government of Canada website as well as all publishing to that site, and to the Prime Minister's Government of Canada's social media accounts.

The requirements for the site and those accounts have grown and become more complex with steady increases in volume and new features such as video, richer digital content, live streaming, and enhanced social media. These represent an additional pressure for PCO's web operations and associated IT support. The funds will be directed to meeting these requirements in support of the Prime Minister's web presence.

PCO is seeking $1 million for activities related to the continued implementation of Canada's Migrant Smuggling Prevention Strategy. The Special Advisor on Human Smuggling and Illegal Migration took office in September 2010 and was charged with coordinating the Government of Canada's response to mass marine human smuggling ventures targeting Canada. Canada has implemented a whole-of-government strategy to prevent the further arrival of human smuggling vessels.

This is a priority national security file. Budget 2015 approved funding in the amount of $44.5 million over three years to continue Canada's coordinated efforts to identify and respond to such threats. Reporting to the National Security Advisor, the Special Advisor's mandate consists in the coordination of the Government of Canada's response to marine migrant smuggling. This includes working with key domestic partners to coordinate Canada's strategy, working with key international partners to promote cooperation, and advancing Canada's engagement with governments in transit countries and in regional and international fora.

PCO is also requesting $0.8 million for activities related to the continuation and advancement of the Border Implementation Team in support of the Beyond the Border Action Plan. By way of background, in February 2011, Canada and the U.S. issued a Declaration on a Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness. The declaration established a new long-term partnership accelerating the legitimate flow of people and goods between both countries, while strengthening security and economic competitiveness.

It focused on four areas of cooperation: addressing threats early; trade facilitation, economic growth and jobs; integrated cross-border law enforcement; and critical infrastructure and cybersecurity. This led to the announcement of the Beyond The Border Action Plan in December 2011. Consequently, concrete benefits have begun to accrue to industry and travellers through an increasingly efficient, modernized and secure border. Continued central coordination and oversight of Border Action Plan implementation has been important for ensuring its success.

PCO is seeking $0.2 million to support the creation of a new non-partisan, merit-based Senate appointment process. In December 2015, the government announced the establishment of a new, non-partisan, merit-based process to advise on Senate appointments. Under the new process, an Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments was established on January 19, 2016, to provide advice to the Prime Minister on candidates for the Senate.

The Independent Advisory Board is guided by public, merit-based criteria, in order to identify Canadians who would make a significant contribution to the work of the Senate. The criteria will help ensure a high standard of integrity, collaboration, and non-partisanship in the Senate. The government is moving quickly to reform this Senate and the new appointments process will be implemented in two phases.

In the first phase which is transitional, five appointments will be made to improve the representation of the provinces with the most vacancies, i.e., Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. The second phase will implement a permanent process to replenish the remaining vacancies, and will include an application process open to all Canadians.

The funding for PCO allows it to support the operations of the Independent Advisory Board and its secretariat in its work during the first transitional phase to provide advice and recommendations to the Prime Minister for his consideration.

In addition, PCO's statutory forecast increases by $0.1 million for the salary and motor car allowance for the Minister of Democratic Institutions.

Following the election, the Honourable Maryam Monsef was appointed to the position of Minister of Democratic Institutions. To reflect the addition of this full ministerial position that includes both the salary and motor car allowance, a new item was included under PCO's statutory forecasts.

This completes the explanation—

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Madam Doucet, thank you very much. We're at just over 10 minutes now. I know you have yet to go into the departmental performance report, but if we could, I'd like to move on to the Public Service Commission for their presentation. We will make sure the rest of your presentation enters the record.

[Michelle Doucet]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Madam Donoghue.

[Christine Donoghue, Acting President, Public Service Commission]

Mr. Chair, honourable members, thank you.

I am pleased to introduce Omer Boudreau who is our corporate management vice-president at the commission.

We are pleased to be here today to discuss the Public Service Commission's departmental performance report for 2014-15 and supplementary estimates.

The mandate of the Public Service Commission is to promote and safeguard merit-based appointments, and in collaboration with other stakeholders, to protect the non-partisan nature of the public service. While the Public Service Employment Act gives appointment authority to the PSC, the legislation also calls for this authority to be delegated to deputy heads.

In a decentralized system based on the delegation of authorities, the commission fulfils its mandate by providing policy guidance and expertise, conducting effective oversight, and delivering innovative staffing and assessment services. We also work with departments and agencies to promote a non-partisan federal public service that reflects Canada's diversity and draws on talents and skills from across the country.

We report independently to Parliament on the overall integrity of the staffing system and non-partisanship of the public service. To that end, our 2014-15 annual report, which I notice is in front of you, was tabled in Parliament on February 23. We would be pleased to be back in front this committee to discuss it, should the committee wish us to do so.

Today, I will be focusing my remarks on three areas. First, I would like to highlight some of the key achievements found in our departmental performance report 2014-15. Second, I would like to speak to some of the areas of our supplementary estimates (C). Third, I would like to conclude by providing you with an update of the efforts that we're making to modernize our approach to staffing.

Mr. Chair, a non-partisan public service is one in which appointments are based on merit and are free from political influence and where employees not only perform their duties in a politically impartial manner, but are also seen to do so. As part of our responsibilities, we communicate with public servants about the value of non-partisanship and remind them of their rights as well as their legal responsibilities with respect to political activities.

Any public servant who is interested in becoming a political candidate in a municipal, provincial, territorial or federal election must first obtain the permission of the commission, following its review. We approve these requests if the employee's ability to perform their duties in a politically impartial manner will not be impaired or be perceived as being impaired. In making this decision, we consider factors such as the nature of the election, the nature of the employee's duties in the organizational context, and the level and visibility of the employee's position. Approvals are often subject to conditions such as taking a leave without pay in order to seek nomination to be a candidate.

I'd like to turn to the staffing system which accounts for the majority of our activities and resources. We provide guidance, tools, and support services to enable hiring managers and human resource advisers to staff effectively while meeting the intent of the Public Service Employment Act.

We also administer programs that recruit qualified Canadians from across the country. This involves extensive outreach and increased collaboration with departments and agencies, such as participating in career fairs and information sessions with academic institutions across the country. For example, over 39,000 applications were submitted under the fall federal student work experience campaign and over 6,500 students were hired.

We work closely with partners, including the office of the chief human resources officer, to create pools of qualified candidates that are available to federal organizations across the country. This collaboration helps to reduce duplication of efforts across the public service.

We continue to expand our use of new technology. Online testing now accounts for 72% of all the tests administered by the PSC. More than 92% of the PSC's second language tests were completed online. Unsupervised online testing continued to increase, representing nearly 42,000 tests in 2014-2015.

These tests allow applicants to take a test at a location of their choosing and to have greater access to public service jobs no matter where they live. This testing also helps to reduce barriers for persons with disabilities by allowing them to take exams from home using their own adaptive technologies.

Our most important platform for recruitment is our site called jobs.gc.ca. In April 2015, the system provided Canadians with a single portal to access public service jobs. Nearly 8,800 internal and external job advertisements were posted, resulting in over 530,000 applications.

We continue to look for ways to further modernize the system and support in order to improve the user experience. This is a good segue to the funds that are in supplementary estimates (C), as departments and agencies contribute to the cost of operating this platform, which explains the transfer you see in the estimates.

This consolidated system also provides the foundation to support the implementation of the Veterans Hiring Act . On July 1 last year, the legislation came into force providing medically released veterans and members of the Canadian Armed Forces greater access to public service jobs.

We provided training and new tools to raise awareness of the skills and competencies that veterans have to offer to the public service. We ourselves at the commission have hired two veterans to serve as navigators in guiding their colleagues through the priority entitlements and staffing system. To date, more than 94 veterans have been hired, including 15 under the new statutory entitlement which gives the highest priority to veterans who have been released for medical reasons attributable to service.

As part of our efforts to continuously improve our system, I would like to speak about changes that will come into effect on April 1 to simplify the staffing process. These changes build on the reforms introduced and our experience gained since 2005, with the goal of modernizing while ensuring the overall health of the staffing system.

Based on our observations over the past 10 years, we believe the staffing system has matured, along with the human resources capacity in departments and agencies. As such, we are streamlining our policies to remove duplication, going from 12 policies to one.

This single policy will more clearly articulate expectations for deputy heads and reinforce their discretion and accountability. As a result of these changes, departments and agencies will have greater scope to customize their staffing based on their operational realities and needs. Hiring managers will also have more room to exercise their judgment in their staffing decisions, and will also be accountable for their decisions.

Mr. Chair, this context in which the public service operates is constantly evolving. Departments and agencies need to be able to respond effectively to ensure that they attract the right people with the right skills at the right time.

To that end, the commission will focus on integrating its guidance and support to respond to the unique needs of organizations, while also promoting best practices across the system. We will be reducing the reporting burden, in line with the recommendations of the Auditor General's report of 2015. Deputy heads will remain accountable to the Public Service Commission for the way in which they exercise their discretion, and we will continue to oversee the integrity of the staffing system through audits and investigations.

However, we will be adjusting our oversight activities to be more nimble in order to support continuous improvement. For instance, audits will shift from reviewing individual organizations to taking a system-wide approach with a focus on areas that need attention.

Mr. Chair, for more than 100 years, the Public Service Commission has been entrusted by Parliament with the mandate of safeguarding merit and non-partisanship in the public service. We will continue to foster strong collaborative relationships with parliamentarians, deputy heads, bargaining agents, and other stakeholders so that Canadians continue to have confidence in their non-partisan and professional public service and to benefit from the skills and competencies to deliver results.

We'd be pleased to take questions at this point. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much, Madam Doucet and Madam Donoghue.

We'll go now to the seven-minute round and Madam Ratansi.

I'll remind all members that the time allowed for questions includes questions and answers.

Madam Ratansi, please.

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

Thank you. I'll be quite quick with my questions.

Madam Donoghue, my question is for you.

The Public Service Commission of Canada is asking, under vote 1c, to transfer a total of $504,000 from Parks Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for the public service resource systems. I guess that is a recruitment system that you have.

Is this mandatory for the agencies to do?

[Christine Donoghue]

The system that we entertain is mandatory in fact for all departments that are subject to the Public Service Employment Act. When we come to Parks Canada and the CFIA, these organizations are not subject to the PSEA, the Public Service Employment Act. That is why they are paying for the services. They have chosen to use the services that we offer.

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

You presented the view that with the aging population, with retirement, the challenges that the Public Service Commission faces across government.... How have you been able to meet the challenges of a very diverse population and reflect that diversity in your hiring practices?

[Christine Donoghue]

As the public service is responsible for the implementation of the Public Service Employment Act, we also have a responsibility for employment equity that is shared with diverse partners within the system. We have basically, through policy and through the use of legislation, been able to indicate that there is a possibility to advertise positions, with targeted intent, towards employment equity diversity groups. That in itself has allowed for easier access of diverse groups into public service jobs.

The other thing we do is conduct studies to look at what is happening within those communities, what their workforce availability is, and whether or not we are getting the right number of applicants and whether the jobs are being offered to the employment equity groups.

We have studies that will be coming out soon, in 2016, that will demonstrate some of the results we have. We have seen some increase in certain communities, but we recognize that there is still some more work to be done. We also do a lot of outreach to create more awareness and to inform departments as to how they can more easily get people on board from the employment equity groups.

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

This gives rise to two questions, then. How accessible is your system? How easy is it for people who wish to apply but may have linguistic skill problems? I guess it is bilingual. That is number one. Number two is, how easy is it to access, and what monitoring mechanisms do you have in place to ensure that the PSC is successful?

I was looking at the audit reports and some of the observations, and the audit recommends that the monitoring has to be done and be more stringent. You're an umbrella for a lot of these agencies, so could you give me some idea as to the ease of access to that system and the monitoring and how you gauge success?

[Christine Donoghue]

The ease of access was facilitated through the fact that we integrated a single window. That basically made it very clear. Having a single window that Canadians can all go through to see what jobs are available in the public service is definitely a benefit.

Now, we are actually in the process of reviewing, once you know where the single window is, how easy it is to actually enter into the system. We recognize at this point in time that it could be a better user experience. As I was saying, we are looking at better ways of improving that system which was put in place in 2015, but we are also looking at what it would mean to actually do the system from the user perspective, as distinct from the government perspective.

We're looking at continuous improvement, facilitating easier language, trying to get rid of a lot of the very bureaucratic language, and seeing whether we can do a system that would, by the criteria the potential candidates could put in, more easily direct them towards jobs that would be suitable for their skill sets.

The system works well. Every department is using it. As well, we're asking departments to monitor a lot more the activities they have within that system. But we always recognize that it should be a bit more user-friendly, and we're going to be testing that in the months to come.

One thing we've also done is we've streamlined a lot of our policy requirements. We were an extremely rules-based system. As of April 1 we're really going back to the basic intent of the legislation, which was very clear and gave a lot of flexibility. One thing we're going to do is adapt that system so that it removes any extra information that is no longer required on the basis of policy.

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

How many minutes do I have?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

It's about 45 seconds.

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

If you can, answer this for the second round: how do you measure your success? What is the measuring mechanism you use to show that we have hired the diverse population, whether it's the disabled, visible minorities, etc.?

[Christine Donoghue]

Our system allows us to do a compilation of a lot of data. It allows us to actually measure through the data. This is data that I could provide to the committee to demonstrate exactly how we can use it and what the data is showing us. Then, we share it with all the deputy heads. Also, in conjunction with the human resources office, we try to encourage different approaches.

This is information that I could provide more specifically to the committee, which would outline much more detail.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you. I request that you do that, Madam Donoghue.

Mr. McCauley, you have seven minutes, please.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Thank you.

Thanks for the questions, Ms. Ratansi.

You note that on July 1, the Veterans Hiring Act came into force, and since then 94 veterans in total have been hired. What percentage is that of new hires, and how many have actually been hired by Veterans Affairs?

[A voice]

[Inaudible—Editor]