Government Operations Committee on June 7th, 2022

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Mr. McCauley.

We'll now go to Ms. Thompson for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome.

I want to touch on a couple of things you spoke about earlier. If you want to, just elaborate and provide more detail, if that's possible.

The first is around the return to the workplace. Could you just reference a little more specifically the program and the work that you're doing around return to work?

[Marie-Chantal Girard]

With pleasure.

A lot is going on at this current time because the health and safety guidance was last updated on May 12 and it now allows us to return to full occupancy of the buildings with, of course, ensuring that we apply all of the necessary preventive measures such as wearing a mask if you don't have the two-metre distance or handwashing, sanitizing, and so on and so forth. Now that we have a green light to return to occupancy, deputy heads are currently assessing and testing various models of flexible work, because there is more than one approach. We know that, for an employer such as the Government of Canada, which is the largest and and is also extremely diverse and complex in its operations, one model won't address the needs and won't allow us to provide the quality of service to Canadians that is required.

Because we're all starting new on this endeavour of a flexible workplace, we are currently testing, and the office of the chief human resources officer is gathering some data and information and providing useful tools to departments to undertake those models. In the coming months, we'll assess the successes and the best practices. If all goes well, let's hope that in the fall we can benefit from those lessons learned and give ourselves a more consistent pace.

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

Thank you.

Again, I'll circle back to another point. Could you speak about promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, and what the office is doing to ensure that the public service accurately reflects the diversity in the country? How are we addressing barriers for under-represented populations?

[Marie-Chantal Girard]

On that front, there's a whole suite of initiatives that is currently under way. Across departments, we have developed mentorship programs. We have also developed recruitment strategies to make sure that we attract and retain talent in the public service.

We also work very closely with the Privy Council Office on the call to action on anti-racism, equity and inclusion. In budget 2022, you have an announcement of $3.7 million over five years to make sure that we also undertake the consultations that we were referring to with various groups but particularly with Black employees. We are bringing forward an approach that the communities have asked for, which is nothing for us without us. We're putting in place consultation and engagement with the communities that will put them at the heart of the solutions that are being brought forward by the administration.

Finally, I would like to also speak to the “nothing without us” initiative by the accessibility office to hire 5,000 new public servants with disabilities by 2025.

I could go on, but I will stop here.

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

Thank you.

The budget included new measures to find efficiencies in government through a strategic policy review. Can you explain what that work will do?

[Annie Boudreau]

We have two streams of work on the strategic policy review. The first stream is to look at ongoing programs and ongoing processes. The second, as indicated in budget 2022, is to be able to find efficiencies from the post-COVID era from real property, from travel and from working from home, and we'll be able to provide an update in budget 2023.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you.

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

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ladies, you're free to tell me who is best suited to answer my question.

In the supplementary estimates, the Department of Finance is requesting $191.6 million in vote 1a as a Net Profits Interest for the Hibernia offshore oil project for the year 2021. This is called a Net Profits Interest in an offshore oil project.

How does this grant allow the Canadian government to preserve the environment, to ensure carbon neutrality and to participate in saving the only planet we have?

[Annie Boudreau]

Thank you for your question.

I was prepared to provide an answer on the mechanisms used and the reasons for their use. However, I am not in a position to answer your question on carbon neutrality. So we will send you a written answer.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

That's fine. I would be very grateful.

The NextGen Team is conducting tests and, as the minister said, they are in the process of making contact with managers. What difficulties has the new payroll system presented so far?

Can we expect any solutions to avoid a disaster as great as that of Phoenix? What have we learned from this experience?

[Marie-Chantal Girard]

I will answer briefly.

Indeed, at this stage, we are taking note of everything we have learned from Phoenix. We remain absolutely determined to pay employees correctly, making as few mistakes as possible, although it must be recognized that, in an organization as large as the government, there are always adjustments to be made.

However, until now we have not been looking at these types of problems, but rather at systemic problems. We have taken note of the lessons learned. We are working with the successful supplier to see how such a complex organization can simplify its payroll activities as much as possible. In fact, this is the result of decades of additions. We need to simplify things so that we don't ask the system to do complex things—

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Let me ask you one last question before I run out of time. Were the unions involved in the process? Were they consulted in the search for solutions?

[Marie-Chantal Girard]

Absolutely. A labour-management steering group meets on a regular basis. We also have agreements with the unions to work on simplifying payroll activities.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you very much.

It's reassuring to hear that.

[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.

The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness is requesting $823 million under vote 5 for the disaster financial assistance arrangements contribution program that was announced in budget 2021. This funding would be used to address costs incurred by provinces and territories for large-scale natural disasters that occurred over the last decade. The eligible expenses include emergency services, security measures, repairs to public buildings and infrastructure, cleanup, as well as businesses and farms.

I think it is important. We've seen the government help out with forestry, agriculture, climate mitigation and disasters, but they have done nothing for fishers. They shut down 60% of the fishery on the north coast in British Columbia and abandoned those fishers. Why is fishing not included in this fund? Will it be?

[Annie Boudreau]

Thank you for your question.

I don't have the answer to why fisheries are not included there. We see what was included in the budget 2021 policy decision. I cannot answer that question.

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

I just want to relay that a warming ocean is having a huge impact on wild salmon. Lee Sylvia, a constituent of mine from Parksville, has no EI and no eligibility for EI. These fishers have been abandoned. They need help from the Treasury Board.

The Department of Citizenship and Immigration is requesting $247 million under vote 1 for operating expenses, grants and contributions for immigration settlement measures, temporary accommodations and income support for Ukrainians. This funding would be used for initial costs of the special immigration measures for Ukrainian refugees, including charter flights, temporary hotel accommodations, application processing, settlement and transitional financial support programs.

Can you talk about how many Ukrainians would benefit from this funding, and also would additional funding be allocated to Afghan refugees?

[Annie Boudreau]

If you look in the document, there is an amount for Afghan refugees. If you give me one minute, I will be able to find it.

We have an amount for Ukrainians, and we also have amounts for Afghan refugees under supplementary estimates (A).

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

How about this? How many Ukrainian refugees has Canada welcomed since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

[Annie Boudreau]

As of June 1, 2022, the department has received over 278,000 Canada-Ukrainian authorizations for emergency travel applications and has approved over 127,000 of them.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you. Ms. Boudreau, if there is any other information that you feel you need to supply for that answer, if you could provide it to the clerk, it would be appreciated.

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