Government Operations Committee on June 7th, 2022

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

Thank you for this very important question.

Last fall, we knew we needed to have a fully vaccinated workforce to make our work sites safer and also to make sure our communities were safer. That is why we brought forward the vaccine mandates. Interestingly, we asked employees of the public service at the time to attest to their vaccination status, and they did step up. Almost 99% of employees attested to being fully vaccinated.

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

I know, Minister. I just—

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

In answer to your question, we are committed to review this policy, as we mentioned, every six months, and we're currently reviewing this policy. We are making decisions and evaluations based on science and the advice, of course, of public health officials.

We know Canada Post's top priority is to also keep its employees and their communities safe while they continue to offer their services to Canadians. This is why we're reviewing, at this time, the mandate.

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

I appreciate that, but I only have a little bit of time and you know that.

It's urgent that we get some transparency here. It undermines public health, when there's not transparency with the public. People have questions.

In terms of the Public Health Agency, it's requested $1.4 billion through vote 1 to procure additional COVID-19 therapeutics. Has the agency sought funding through vote 1 or vote 5 to procure a safer supply of controlled substances to reduce drug toxicity, deaths and hospitalizations, which we know have accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic?

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

As you know, this includes $1.8 billion, as you said, to support our government's response to the pandemic and $1.4 billion for the Public Health Agency of Canada to procure additional COVID-19 treatments.

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

I'm asking specific questions about the toxic drug supply crisis and about safer supply. I need a specific answer on that.

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

The amounts here are not dedicated for the opioid crisis that you are talking about.

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

Thank you. I'm hoping you'll come forward with some amounts soon to rapidly scale up safer supply.

In terms of the toxic drug crisis that continues to take lives of Canadians each day across all walks of life, you may be aware that legislation has recently been passed in the Ontario legislature to require workplaces, that are at risk of a worker opioid overdose, to have naloxone kits on site and within the vicinity of a worker trained in their use. Naloxone is a medication that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and allow time for medical help to arrive.

Has Treasury Board conducted an evaluation of the risk of opioid-related overdoses for workers employed within different sectors of the federal public service, and does Treasury Board have a policy regarding naloxone placement and training in federal workplaces?

If not, will you do that? I've had some political staffers, even from the Liberal Party, who have had opioid and substance use-related disorders, and they've cited that this wasn't on site and needs to be.

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

Before I hand it off on the more Treasury Board-related policy work, I would like to mention the hard work that you have been doing on this file. I want to acknowledge that.

As you know, our government does understand the urgency of the crisis, and we're moving forward with an evidence-based approach to end this worsening situation. As you know, Minister Bennett announced the comprehensive B.C. proposal to decriminalize personal possession of small amounts of certain illegal drugs within the province—

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

I'm not looking for that, just the answer.

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

I know. I just wanted to mention that is the government's work.

I will, though, ask Marie-Chantal to answer specifically on the Treasury Board question you have.

[Marie-Chantal Girard]

Of course, we promote and foster a safe and healthy workplace. Impairment is prohibited in all federal workplaces. We're working very closely with the ESDC labour program—

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

I'm sorry. This is about life-saving medicine. It's like having a fire extinguisher in the room. We have a toxic drug crisis. Twenty-seven thousand people are dead. I'm asking you to ensure that we have life-saving medication in all public workplaces that are federally run. I'm asking you to do that and to ensure that legislation comes forward and that you make that happen.

[Marie-Chantal Girard]

We're taking notes, and codes of conduct and related policies are updated as we monitor the situation on an ongoing basis.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Mr. Johns.

We will now go to the second round.

We will go to Mr. Paul-Hus for five minutes.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Hello, ladies.

I'm going to talk to you about the Quebec City tramway. In 2019, the Prime Minister announced in Quebec that the federal government was allocating $1.2 billion to the tram project, which was then estimated at $3.3 billion. In fact, we know that the federal government had assessed that the ridership of the Quebec City tramway was not sufficient to justify the investment of this amount. About $500 million was therefore given directly to Quebec City and an agreement was made with Montreal to take $800 million from Montreal to make up the shortfall.

Now, the Quebec government has made a request, as a cost overrun of $500 million to $600 million is already expected. Do the 2019 conditions based on projected ridership remain the same or are things different now?

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

Thank you for your question.

I think it's important to mention that we know very well that construction costs are rising in all sectors. So it wouldn't be surprising if there were an increase in costs for the Quebec City tramway project.

Unfortunately, I don't have all the information right now. I don't think my colleagues have it either, but if you'll allow me, I'll send you a written answer. That would be better.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I would appreciate that. We need to have a clear understanding of what happened in 2019, given that there was not enough ridership at the time. I'd like to know if that has any bearing on the next phases.

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

I will also contact my colleague Mr. Dominic LeBlanc. By contacting Infrastructure Canada, I will probably be able to find information to answer your question.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Perfect. All right.

I'm going to move to another topic.

At the moment we are approving spending, and there is a lot of spending. We know that your government has been spending, which is not a problem. However, I have a problem with the performance associated with the spending that is done. At the moment, we are experiencing a great deal of difficulty with airports and the issuing of passports.

There is a problem, and we are trying to determine the source of the problem. It is a staff management problem or a performance problem with situations that we think may be related to telework.

I've already asked Ms. Girard the question and she's answered it, but I'm coming back to it, because right now there's a huge amount of spending, but there's not enough output. How do you see that?

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

I think it's important to know that over the last two years there has been an unprecedented need to invest in helping Canadians, workers and businesses through the COVID‑19 crisis. That is what we have done. We are obviously looking at how that spending is going...

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

You're talking to me about expenses related to COVID‑19, but I'm talking to you about spending to reduce airport traffic and speed up passport issuance.

We hear about hiring additional staff, but at the same time, we know that some staff are on forced leave because they are not vaccinated.

Where is this all headed? It's all very well to vote for extra money, but if there's a problem with staff management, it's not going to get any better. The last directive on performance management was issued in 2014. Since 2014, there has been no update. It is precisely a directive that aims to monitor the performance of employees and assess the quality of management programs.

Why has Treasury Board not issued a new directive since 2014?

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

With respect to airport traffic, we know it's a very difficult situation. In these supplementary estimates, we are providing $330 million to address the challenges at airports. This is one of the measures we are taking. Of course, Treasury Board is watching and encouraging the department to take this money to help overcome these challenges.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Minister, you keep saying that you are investing. Yet when you ask for money, it is because the return is less than before. It ends up becoming a question of organization.

For example, it was known that there would be an increased demand on the passport front. However, there was no preparation beforehand. Subsequently, hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to catch up.

As a public service personnel manager, do you think we could do anything other than invest money?

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

I understand very well what you are saying and I think you are asking a very good question.

You always have to look at how the money is spent. When I'm at the Treasury Board table, we get submissions and we ask the department to explain how that money is going to be spent. The money has to be spent responsibly. We also have to assess where the needs are. After the process is completed, we can send the money that has been requested. So there are controls that are done at different levels.

I don't know if my colleague Ms. Girard wants to add anything about the concrete elements.