Government Operations Committee on May 8th, 2020

[Jean-Yves Duclos]

Before I turn to Francis, I will say that I know the public service quite well and can assure you, Mr. McCauley, that they do all they need to do to preserve the integrity of the system. For more details, perhaps Francis would want to step in.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Okay. Thanks.

Could I just ask for no more interruptions, please? Can we just stick to the answers, please? We're short on time. Thanks very much.

[Francis Bilodeau]

With regard to the network, there is ongoing monitoring and oversight by a combination of CSE and SSC. With regard to other media, including paper, etc., employees are trained and are provided guidance. As well, we expect the access to information and privacy groups within departments to be monitoring and the employees to self-report.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Great. Thanks very much.

Ms. Vignola was talking—and I'm sorry I missed some of the answers—about the public sector working at home. We don't have an exact number of how many are working from home, besides a vast majority, but do we know how many are working from home or how many are on paid leave right now because they're not able to productively or properly work from home, either because of reality circumstances or because of a lack of proper equipment?

[Jean-Yves Duclos]

Nancy, would you like to provide whatever information we have at the level of the secretariat?

[Nancy Chahwan]

We have very little aggregate information at this point. Departments are collecting it and we are working at aggregating it. We should have data towards the end of the month, but the vast majority of people are—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Would you provide that to our committee when you have it?

[Nancy Chahwan]

Pardon me?

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Would you provide that to our committee when you have that?

[Nancy Chahwan]

Absolutely.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Thanks.

Also, a number of employees who were working and who were on paid leave for a shorter period have now received equipment or access to the system and are back to work, so to speak. Could you could provide those numbers as well?

How much are we paying for public sector employees to be working at home? We're covering Internet, I assume, for the majority of them, or other equipment. Would you be able to provide how much we're paying for this?

[Jean-Yves Duclos]

This is directly linked to the question asked by member Vignola just a moment ago. We can—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

It wasn't specifically for covering Internet access, I don't think.

[Jean-Yves Duclos]

That's right. Your question is even more specific.

In that case, who on the team would be best able to answer?

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

You can get back to us at the same time you're providing the other information.

Minister, we've been talking to the Information Commissioner, Ms. Maynard, about access to information. She's trying to get the government to be more proactive with transparency.

We've seen all ATIPs put on hold. When will we start seeing members of Parliament and Canadians have access to the access to information requests? What are we doing to proactively ensure transparency in this time?

[Jean-Yves Duclos]

I had, indeed, a very good discussion—

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Unfortunately, Minister, while it's an excellent question, we're out of time. I would ask you to provide a full and complete answer to Mr. McCauley's question in writing. Write to our clerk, and he will distribute that answer to all committee members.

We'll now go to our second five-minute intervention.

Go ahead, Monsieur Drouin.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the minister for taking the time to join us and discuss his department and issues related to COVID-19.

I, too, would like to thank all the public servants who are working hard to ensure that Canadians have access to the services they need in these difficult times.

I represent a number of public servants, and I wonder about the measures taken.

Have we taken any additional steps in the event that a public servant's spouse is infected with COVID-19?

How does the department support employees who are sick and those caring for their spouse?

[Jean-Yves Duclos]

Thank you for your question, Mr. Drouin.

You brought up two very important things. Let me quickly summarize them.

First, we owe a very great debt of gratitude to public servants, since their personal conditions during the crisis also affect them and because their professional responsibilities have increased in recent weeks.

Second, you asked me what we are doing to support public servants so they can continue to work for Canadians. We have implemented measures for mental health and physical health. We are giving them the tools they absolutely need to be well and do a good job. This includes all the steps they can take to protect the health of their loved ones and, in some cases, to care for their children.

There is a lot more to it than that. Ms. Chahwan can tell you more about how we take care of employees and those around them.

[Nancy Chahwan]

Mr. Drouin, thank you for your comments and your question.

As the minister mentioned, several specific and extraordinary measures have been put in place for as long as it takes to manage the crisis.

In the situation you just described, we have made sure that people's income would be maintained. We have also ensured that those dealing with difficult situations have access to psychological services with far fewer requirements than before, while ensuring reasonable diligence in the use of those services. For example, they can consult social workers and psychotherapists without necessarily going through psychologists. This also helps us to support the efforts of all Canadians.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you.

I am fortunate to represent public servants who work in French and English. As parliamentarians, we also have to use translation services.

How do these services work for public servants? How can public servants continue to work in the language of their choice?

[Jean-Yves Duclos]

I am going to let Ms. Chahwan answer that question.

[Nancy Chahwan]

This is an extremely important issue. The crisis is no reason to stop ensuring that both official languages are respected at work. At the Treasury Board Secretariat, we made sure to remind the official languages champions in all departments of the importance of being able to communicate in either language.

I am aware that some complaints have been filed with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages and were made public. Despite this, we are making sure that we do everything we can to meet the requirements.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you very much.

How much time do I have left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Mr. Drouin, you have less than 30 seconds.