Evidence of meeting #86 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 recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
As long as the government is exploring the potential acquisition of the aircraft, you don't need a letter from the Department of National Defence. Is that correct?
Liberal
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you all for coming today. You can probably see and hear in the room that the temperature is very high on the Phoenix issue.
I appreciate, Madam Lemay, that you were not there through the pilot and that you came after that, but of course the information the committee has received since this became an issue has been at times a bit conflicting. It's also a bit confusing, and it's difficult for us to wrap our heads around it, but we need to be able to trust the information that comes from the civil service so that we understand that we're moving forward.
This is just a yes-or-no question. Do you feel that the department is now sufficiently staffed to handle the backlog, resolve the issues, and handle summer employment and various other issues, so that we will actually get to ground on the Phoenix issue in a reasonable amount of time?
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I apologize if I don't answer this by just a “yes” or a “no”, because we have made the priorities.
We are—
Liberal
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
It depends on timing.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
We are staffed to get through all of the work in the longer term. The more people we have, the shorter the time it will take. That's the point.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
Madam Lemay, do you feel you are sufficiently staffed, because this is the—
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I would prefer to have more staff.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
Okay. How many more staff do you feel you should have to get this to ground in a reasonable amount of time?
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
It depends again on what you call “a reasonable amount of time”. There are so many factors. We are looking at this right now, because collective bargaining is a really important element. We're doing that analysis to identify what would make a difference and what would ensure that we can actually integrate all that.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
I don't think anyone believes that we're going to save $70 million per year with this system.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
I'm asking again how many people you feel you would need to be able to have Phoenix do the jobs it will continually need to do, given that labour issues, new union agreements, collective agreements, summer students, and T4s happen every year.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Just to be clear, the long-term, ongoing level is one thing.
I think there are two things here. There is the queue that we have to get through, and that's the really important one—
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
I understand. How many more people do you feel you need to get to ground on the problems, understanding that union issues, which you had mentioned as one of the conflicting factors, will be something that happens forever?
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
That's what we're analyzing right now, the short term and the longer term, because I think we might be—
Liberal
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
With respect to the other question that Mr. Christopherson raised, I would like the department to provide us with a briefing note on how the service levels feed into both employee bonuses and the continuous improvement process. Mr. Christopherson made a good point that it's not clear how the new resetting of targets drives continuous improvement. We would love to see a briefing note on how you use that in continuous improvement and also how you use it in the bonus of employees process, so we can understand...or any other reason you use the targets.
If I may, I'll move to another item for Shared Services Canada. I've always had a bit of concern as to why there is any procurement function within Shared Services Canada and not merely within the department. Shared Services Canada could tap into the department just like all the other ministries are required to do.
Madam Lemay, about how much extra does it cost to add a new SKU to your online procurement portal?
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I'm sorry. Was that question for...?
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
No. It's for Madam Lemay.
You have an online portal for procurement within your department.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Do you know that, Lisa?
I'm sorry—
