Government Operations Committee on Dec. 17th, 2024

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Based on the charts you provided to us, the cases seem to have begun to significantly increase starting at the beginning of 2023. This is the same time frame in which our committee began its study into the ArriveCAN and McKinsey scandals. Do you believe that this increase was inspired by the increased scrutiny of these scandals?

[Harriet Solloway]

I have no idea. I do not know.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

The number of submissions still seems to be increasing, but the number of completed submissions has remained consistent. If you do not receive an increase in funding, what will be the impact on public servants who will not have their cases reviewed within the standard timeline?

[Harriet Solloway]

You know, they say that justice delayed is justice denied. I think that everybody deserves to have their case and their concerns dealt with in an appropriate manner and in a timely manner.

Obviously, I think that overall, for each individual, there's a negative impact. I also believe that there's a negative impact for the organization.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Since the report came out over two months ago that your office was not receiving adequate funding, have you had any positive communication from the President of the Treasury Board regarding your funding?

[Harriet Solloway]

Since it came out in public.... Is that what the question is?

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

That's correct, yes.

[Harriet Solloway]

We have had contact with the office of the president, and our first contact was last Friday.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

And—

[Harriet Solloway]

That wasn't our first contact. I meant that we have reached out on multiple occasions, but our first engagement and discussion with them was last Friday.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Okay.

How would you describe that communication?

[Harriet Solloway]

It was pleasant.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

It was pleasant.

What changes will your office need to make if you do not receive adequate funding in the near future?

[Harriet Solloway]

We're just going to have to keep on keeping on. We're going to try to get to every single case we can. There's really nothing more we can do.

To date, I have curtailed travel for many cases. We've put on hold a lot of non-staff costs, hoping we will get the additional funding. We basically pushed those costs into next year. However, they're costs that we're going to have to assume at some point, including for the legal assistance fund.

I'm pushing for whatever I can. If we don't get more funding, the reality is that some cases may not see the light of day.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

I thought I still had seven seconds.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Mr. Jowhari, are you subbing in Ariana, or will you be taking this round?

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

I would love to sub in Ariana, but that won't be for a while.

First of all, thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Commissioner. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you for the work you're doing, despite the challenges you've been facing over the last year. Welcome to the job.

I understand this commission has been around since 2007. You're asking for an immediate cash infusion of about $1.4 million. Then you're effectively asking to double the annual budget, with a $7.6 million increase until 2029, followed by a permanent $7.2 million.

Can you explain how that will help you from an FTE point of view and, naturally, a case point of view?

[Harriet Solloway]

From an FTE point of view, if I continue to squeeze, we currently have funding for about 38 FTEs, although, as I said, I've moved some operations and maintenance funding to FTEs. However, we have about 40 on board right now.

We would move to 79 in the next budget year and thereafter. Assuming the influx of cases eventually plateaus and doesn't keep going up, we envisage starting to gradually lower it by 2027 or 2028 to 78, then to 75. We would basically land on 75. That is the forecast for the FTEs.

In terms of cases, in the initial estimate—we submitted the off-cycle budget assuming we were going to get funding earlier than now—we believed it would take us three to five years to get the case level down to a manageable level that could be processed within our service standards. Due to this delay and the continuing increase in cases, we now have a bigger backlog than we did when we first submitted our budget. It likely could take, I would estimate, four to six years.

I haven't asked for that specific projection. I'll only ask for it once we get the money, hopefully. Then I'll know where we're going.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you for that.

I had an opportunity to look at the report and some of the charts you submitted. They showed the trend, as well as completed cases versus open cases.

Before we go there, can you first clarify the types of submissions you're receiving? Are they mainly disclosures of wrongdoing and of complaints, or are they general inquiries? My understanding is that those are the three categories your office is tracking and managing.

[Harriet Solloway]

So far in 2024—we're almost at the end of the year—we have received 304 disclosures, which can include multiple allegations, each of which has to be investigated, and we have so far received 85 reprisal complaints.

Even though it's not in our act, we do offer a reconsideration of cases if people can bring forward new evidence or if they have legitimate questions to challenge a decision. There have been seven of those in disclosures and four in reprisals.

We've opened four conciliations, because, particularly with reprisals, if we can find a way forward that suits the complainant, that's always preferable to an imposed solution that has to go to tribunal. We've opened four conciliations—those are extremely time-consuming and resource-consuming—two of which have been completed.

We've launched this year 18 investigations in disclosure and 28 in reprisal over and above the ones that lingered from the previous year; that's just what we launched this year.

There are also submissions completed after analysis. In other words, the submissions were analyzed, and we found that either they were out of jurisdiction or that, for whatever reason, they did not meet the criteria as set out under the act. Of the submissions completed after case analysis, 221 were for disclosure and 57 were for reprisal. We've thus far completed 11 investigations this year in disclosures and seven in reprisals, and we've issued two case reports.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you. This lines up with the information you provided.

Over, let's say, the past few years, which one of these categories has seen the highest growth? You mentioned that about 50% of these cases require travel. Do you have a general idea whether it's the disclosures, the complaints or the inquiries that have seen a bigger increase, and is there any jurisdictional relevance to these complaints?

That will conclude my time.

[Harriet Solloway]

I'm not sure I understand “jurisdictional relevance”.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Let me interrupt.

You only have about 12 seconds, so perhaps you can provide us with a written response to Mr. Jowhari's questions.

[Harriet Solloway]

Certainly.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thanks.

We'll go to Ms. Vignola, please.