Government Operations Committee on April 26th, 2022

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I would say that we continue to focus on making sure that public servants' health and safety are our priority. As we know, currently we have a vaccine mandate that is still applied. We are reviewing this vaccine mandate, as we had said we would review it after six months. Therefore, since April 6, we've been working on that review and we should be coming out with the determination of how this policy will be moving forward in the near future.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

I probably have time for one more quick question. I'll throw it out there.

Under the department's priorities, I'm really interested to look at the focus on inclusivity within government and the work that's being done to ensure that we're not just diverse but we do that action piece, which is the inclusivity.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Yes, we are committed to including a lot of our work on more inclusivity and protecting, of course, public servants in the same.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

We'll now go to Mrs. Vignola for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

In previous years' budgets, Vote 1, i.e., payments made to the Canada Post Corporation for special purposes, has been very stable. This vote went from $22 million in 2019 to $22,210,000 in 2020‑21, and has been renewed from one fiscal year to the next.

I know that the Canada Post Corporation is an independent Crown corporation that makes its own investments, amongst other things, but it has to compete with the Amazons, UPS's and FedExes of this world in terms of price, access, speed of access, infrastructure, and so on.

How is it possible that we are only investing $22,210,000 for special purposes in our postal corporation, when the federal government has concluded contracts with Amazon Web Services to the tune of $24.6 million last year and $15.7 million between 2011 and 2020? The Canada Border Services Agency alone has signed contracts worth $12 million with this company.

How is it that we are investing less money in our own Crown corporation to bring it up to speed than we are in an American company?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you for the question.

I am pleased to say that we are investing on many fronts to improve services at Canada Post. My colleague who is in charge of this file will probably be better able to talk to you about the measures taken to improve services.

I will therefore ask Ms. Boudreau to give you some details. However, we should state that Canada Post has accomplished some very important work and we will continue to offer our support over the next years.

[Annie Boudreau]

Thank you.

As you mentioned, it's a Crown corporation, so it can also raise its own revenues. You made a comparison with the Canada Border Services Agency. However, Parliament provides the agency with all of its funds, whereas the Crown corporation can generate its own revenues. It's also important to consider the entire source of revenue. More details on this are in its management plan.

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

Yes, but our Crown corporation, although it is making huge investments and efforts, needs, by its own admission, an extra boost. In many areas, we are investing in a multi‑billion dollar American giant instead of helping a Canadian company.

It is worth asking yourself about this. My comment is meant to be constructive.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I would be happy to speak to my colleague in order to continue this discussion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

That was a great question by Ms. Vignola. I'm certain that we're going to get a great answer, but unfortunately that's time. If you would like to provide that to the committee in writing, we would appreciate that.

We'll now go to Mr. Johns for two and a half minutes.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Minister, the toxic drug supply crisis continues to result in the loss of thousands of lives in our country, in your riding and right across this nation, a trend that only has worsened since the onset of the pandemic. Since 2016, can you tell me if any emergency funding has been sought by any departments under vote 5 to deal with this public health emergency?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

First of all, we all know that we are all together in this and that we need to continue to invest, to fight and to make sure people are supported. The fact that you're asking about it since 2016 would probably be a response that we would have to send in writing. I don't have the numbers especially, but I can tell you that there is an important effort. Just in the last budget of 2022 there are investments to help.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

The $100 million in this budget over three years is $33 million a year over 10 provinces and three territories. That isn't even close to adequate for dealing with a health emergency of this magnitude. I'm hoping that your leadership.... You write the cheques. You're the purse of the government here in terms of doling out the money. This isn't even close to adequate, as everybody in every province who has lost a loved one will tell you.

I'm going to ask you about the Treasury Board. Does it actually have a workplace policy regarding substance use? If so, when was it last updated? Would you support funding under vote 10 for the creation of a review of such a policy as a strategic initiative to ensure that the government, as an employer, is following the most current evidence-based practices with respect to substance use?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you for that very important question. I know that we have many policies in place.

I don't know if Marie-Chantal would like to specify if that idea of policy substance use is in what we have and if we are reviewing this shortly.

[Marie-Chantal Girard]

Indeed, when we look at it, we look at it in terms of health and safety as the employer in the workplace. For example, when cannabis was introduced in Canada, we looked at it to see how it would be managed. It is part of that obligation we have to provide a safe and healthy workplace for our employees.

I can get back to you on if this particular item is under review in the short term, but not that I'm aware of in the short term.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Mr. Johns.

We'll now go to Mr. Lobb for five minutes.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to all the guests here.

The first question I have is for Minister Fortier in regard to digital ID.

I'm sure that all members of Parliament are getting questions from their constituents about digital ID. I just wanted to hear from you your opinion on digital ID and what it means to you, and what it will mean to Canadians.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I am very humbled by the Prime Minister giving me the mandate to work on a digital strategy for government and also making sure that we work with different sectors, the provinces and territories, to focus on digital ID. As you know, the government and private sector services are becoming increasingly digital. It's more critical than ever to be able to know that the partner at the other end of the transaction is genuine.

Currently, for your information, 33 federal departments manage over 270 government online programs and services. The digital identity program—

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Yes. I'm trying to be respectful here. I just want to know what it will actually mean for a Canadian. Is a digital ID something that they will have? Will it be like a passport? How will it be used? They're happy that everything is going great as far as you're concerned, but they want to know the details.

I'm just asking, respectfully, if I can get some details on what this is, how it's going to work and when it will come into play.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I appreciate the fact that digital identity is a priority for our government, and also working with provinces, territories and municipalities.

I might turn to Paul Wagner for perhaps more precision on where we are at this time.

[Paul Wagner, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategy and Transformation, Treasury Board Secretariat]

What I would offer is that working closely with the provinces...that's where the digital ID starts for Canadians. You'll note that British Columbia, Alberta and other provinces have started to roll out digital ID. The Government of Canada and industry will be able to leverage those digital IDs. It's very much a federated system. It needs to be based on standards and it needs to be based on nationwide infrastructure, but that requires close collaboration with provinces where digital IDs are allocated to individuals and then leveraged by the Government of Canada and industry.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Okay. So you're—

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

The other thing I'd like to add, if I may, is that it's important that it be designed, for cybersecurity and privacy reasons, to make sure that we protect Canadians when and as we develop this digital ID.

Perhaps I can also offer you a tech briefing to go more into the digital ID dimension and the work we're doing. I would gladly do that with you, Mr. Lobb.