Government Operations Committee on April 26th, 2022

[Samantha Tattersall]

Thank you for the opportunity.

The answer is, it depends. In our policy, we set out that when you're disposing, you look at conserving the heritage value of the properties. There are procedures that you follow that are set out, I believe by Heritage Canada, so there are mandatory procedures for heritage assessment and conservation that departments need to follow when they dispose of properties.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Essentially, are you saying that under this policy, experts will make a determination if the heritage character of the property is important enough to require the preservation in the event of a contractual disposal?

[Samantha Tattersall]

You've done a good summary. You could do my job, I think.

Yes, essentially, when you're disposing, you need to undertake an assessment. You work with Parks Canada, and then as you dispose, you take those factors into consideration.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

Do I have any more time, or am I done?

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

You still have a minute and a half.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I'm going to continue on that path.

As I understand it, again, there's a policy in place that says that we're consulting with other Canadian government agencies, departments, provincial governments, municipalities and indigenous communities. All of these different organizations will get to see if there is a community or public use that can be made of the property before the government would then seek to look to potentially dispose of it to a private buyer. Would I be correct in that?

[Samantha Tattersall]

Yes, that's correct.

As I was saying before, there are first legal requirements that you have to follow. There's a legal duty to consult with indigenous people. The second step when you start the policy process is what we call priority circulation. We circulate those to federal departments and municipalities, which inform official language minority communities about whether there is a public purpose use for it. If there is, then you would proceed with that disposal. If not, only if you've gone through that step, would you then move to a position where you would be selling it on the market.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

That makes total sense.

I assume again that we look at, when we do put something on the market, price offers and if it makes business sense, and we have standard model contracts that have a variety of different clauses that could be used depending on the type of disposal we're doing, correct?

[Samantha Tattersall]

There would be an appraisal process. You would have a sense of the fair market value before you go to tender.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Perfect. I think that's it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

In that case, I allowed Ms. Tattersall a chance to answer instead of having to send us in a written answer.

As you can see, the bells are ringing. They are 30-minute bells and we basically have a two-minute walk. We have 15 minutes left of questioning, but I would ask that we have unanimous consent to finish this and then adjourn at that point in time. Do I have unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you very much.

We will now go to Ms. Vignola for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you.

I want to follow up on vote 30 under Treasury Board Secretariat, in the main estimates. It's for paylist requirements. In the 2021‑22 main estimates, $600 million was requested, but that increased to nearly $800 million in 2022‑23.

What accounts for the $200‑million increase?

This year, $600 million is being requested. Should we expect another increase in any of the supplementary estimates?

[Annie Boudreau]

Thank you for your question.

Last year, we did indeed see an increase of $200 million.

In this case, it has to do with departments' requirements related to parental and maternity allowances. It's hard to know at the beginning of the year how much the parental leave taken by employees is going to cost the government. We follow up with departments on a regular basis to make sure we have enough money because the Treasury Board reimburses each department for those costs. Once the money is reimbursed, all the information is available on our website for each department.

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

Does the vote cover parental leave only, or is that just one of the things it covers?

[Annie Boudreau]

It's an example of an item that is covered.

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

I see.

Under vote 25, a total of $2.1 billion is being requested for operating budget carry forward. Vote 35 also concerns a budget carry forward.

What does that mean? Are those budgets being carried forward because they lapsed?

If so, why did they lapse?

[Annie Boudreau]

I'll tell you a bit about how the process works.

Every year, departments receive their budget, and at the end of the year, delays can arise in terms of spending that needs to be paid out. Each department is permitted to bring forward to the next fiscal year up to 5% of its operating budget and up to 20% of its capital budget.

When departments do that, the money comes out of Treasury Board's coffers, and there again, the information appears in the annex for each department or organization.

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

I see. Basically, it reflects your planning of funding that will be carried forward.

[Annie Boudreau]

Yes, exactly.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for being here today and for your hard work.

Your own report states that hiring people with disabilities is worse than any equity-seeking group in the federal public service. With the federal accessibility legislation now in place and employment for persons with disabilities identified as the key priority, recognizing the explicit interface between disability, poverty and employment, what are the federal government's key strategies in accommodating employees who acquire a mental or physical health impairment and are unable to carry out their current duties?

I think about the strategies accommodating those with long COVID, for example, as well. It's estimated that 10% to 25% of individuals who acquired COVID are unable to carry out their current duties. I'd like to hear what your plan is.

[Marie-Chantal Girard]

With long COVID, we're looking at a condition that is relatively new, but which requires, of course, medical certification. Employees have a sick leave bank they can use, but once the diagnosis of long COVID is established, those employees are eligible to use long-term disability insurance. It's part of their benefits package, which is a bit different from the accessibility and persons with disability issue—