Government Operations Committee on March 12th, 2020

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

It's part of the pot. That's fair.

We're probably running out of time here, but in the DRR you mentioned a certain amount about electric vehicles. Is that solely for the government-owned cars, or can other people plug in and use it?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

That's actually a very good question. We are just in the middle of trying to convert the government's fleet—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

I know we're switching over.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

—and are developing a plan for the infrastructure relating to the plug-ins. I have a plug-in vehicle at home, and we have this problem. I don't think we have taken decisions on the plug-in usability or on who's going to be able to use it.

Bill, perhaps you could answer that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Briefly, please.

[Bill Matthews]

The recharging stations are in a variety of locations. Where they're in a public place, where the public has access, the public can recharge. Obviously, if it's in a more—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Is there a charge? Is it through a credit card, or how is that done?

[Bill Matthews]

It's just there for use. I'm not aware of one where there's a charge.

Obviously, if the recharging station is in a secure zone, you wouldn't have public access for that.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Okay. Thanks.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much.

We'll go to Mr. Drouin for four minutes, please.

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

It's Mr. Jowhari, actually.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Mr. Jowhari.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask a question about Phoenix. I've been interested in and have followed this portfolio since the 42nd Parliament. I had the opportunity to ask Minister Murray about NextGen, so I'll go back to you and ask about the amount of reduction, which you briefly touched on, that mainly has come as a result of what's believed to be the pay pod implementation. Can you share with us how effective the pay pods have been?

In the same vein—I have only four minutes—to follow up on Mr. Green's intervention, could you talk about the supports that are there for the employees? Although we may not know the extent of the impact on the employees, are there any support mechanisms there for them?

Thank you.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

The pay pod model, as I mentioned, came through the grassroots of our Phoenix pay system employees, and it was developed in Miramichi. Essentially it's a dashboard, and it allows the employees who are working to see the full set of issues relating to a single employee, and we have heard from both employees affected and employees in the pay centre that this has been a very effective way to address all Phoenix issues relating to one person.

The pay pods have been very effective. There have been concerns in the past relating to how effective they will be overall. Can we transfer the pay pod model outside? We would love to ensure this occurs in terms of greater efficiencies.

Could you clarify your second question?

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Yes, going back to pay pods. Is the pay pod model now part of the NextGen evaluation process as well, or is it being focused right now on Phoenix?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

NextGen is a separate system altogether from what we are currently using. I'm sure Minister Murray told you that we need to move forward on NextGen but from our perspective we are running a parallel system and it is this system, the Phoenix pay system, that we are working on to reduce and eliminate the backlog.

I'll ask my deputy if he has anything to add.

[Bill Matthews]

Certainly, and I'll be very quick. The pay pod is a vehicle used to reorganize our work to deal with the backlog. NextGen is a new procurement. They're going through a pilot phase but they're going to be testing live, fresh pay transactions as part of the test case. Pay pods are very much about the existing backlog and how we work through that, so they're not related at this stage.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Great.

The second question was around the support that's being offered to some of our employees in dealing with their Phoenix pay issues.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Again, employee wellness is very important. We need these employees to be able to function in an environment that allows us to stabilize the system and eliminate the backlog, so what we've done in our pay centre in collaboration with the local union is to introduce successful initiatives to promote exactly what you're asking about: employee well-being. We have an initiative called the organizational wellness initiative and it allows management in the pay centre to assess and track wellness of staff through an annual survey and address areas where change is needed.

I have been in contact with the employees at the Miramichi pay centre and they are very enthusiastic about their work and I want them to keep being enthusiastic about their work, so this issue of employee wellness is very central to what I'm doing on the Phoenix file.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much.

I appreciate that. Our final two interventions will be two minutes each.

Madame Vignola, you have two minutes.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

According to your mandate letter, you are required to implement a new vision for Canada Post.

I, for one, have lived in many places. I now live in the city, but I've also lived in what could be called a rural area, meaning towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people. Right now ATMs are being removed, even in rural areas. We're no longer even talking about having a bank or credit union branch; there's absolutely nothing.

Canada Post is proposing not only to create its own MoneyGram services, but also to offer banking services to the public, which is already being done in several countries around the world.

What do you think of this proposal?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

It raises two issues relating to Canada Post: one, rural areas and servicing rural areas; and two, postal banking.

You're right. My mandate letter refers to working with the Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development to improve services in rural and remote areas. I come from Nova Scotia, from a rural town, and it's exactly the type of thing that I'm sure you're thinking about.

Canada Post has a new vision and it is to remove the rural surcharge for remittance services, which would ensure equivalent pricing between rural and urban markets, and Canada Post has already taken this step. We know more work is to be done. I'm sure that's why it's in my mandate letter. I'm eager to deliver on the commitment.

In terms of Canada Post and postal banking, we've heard loudly and clearly from Canada Post that it should focus its efforts on excellence in service and its core functions, and we agree with that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Minister, we will leave it at that, because we have Mr. Green up for two minutes and then we must suspend to go into committee business.

Mr. Green.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

I'm going to put on my old city councillor hat. Any time I look at a department, I look at the variations for FTE complements in terms of staffing, and I see what appear to be material variations, notwithstanding the fact that you probably had to supplement for the Phoenix debacle.

What are the trend lines in terms of your contracting out? How many jobs have you had to contract out over the last year?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Given that the issue is quite technical, I will ask my deputy to step in.