Government Operations Committee on Nov. 21st, 2022

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thanks very much.

Thanks, Ms. Bidal.

[Carole Bidal]

Absolutely.

The government is working to fix existing pay issues and minimize the emergence of new ones.

In parallel, the government is also working with stakeholders, such as bargaining agents, employees and HR and pay practitioners, to develop a flexible, modern and integrated HR pay solution to meet the government's needs now and into the future.

Progress is being made, and we continue to work to address it.

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

How am I doing for time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

You have about 20 seconds.

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

I'll pass on it, because the next question will take much longer.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

We have Mrs. Vignola for two and a half minutes, please.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Boudreau, I really want to compliment you on your ability to respond in both official languages with such great ease. I can tell you, that is quite rare. When someone asks a question in English, you have no trouble answering in English, and when I speak to you in French, you respond in French, whereas that's usually more difficult. I'm very grateful for that

If you can't answer my question, I urge you to turn over the floor to someone else. For some time now, I've been receiving emails about the Governor General's expenses. Quebecers and Canadians across the country are asking that these expenses be reduced and capped. I know that some expenses are being charged to the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, while others are being covered by various departments.

For the benefit of Quebecers and Canadians, is there any way to reduce and cap the Governor General's budgets, either through a committee or consideration in future budgets?

[Annie Boudreau]

Thank you for your question.

Part of the Governor General's budget is mandated by statute. So, as public servants, we have very little control over these statutory expenditures. Another part of her budget is appropriated, as you can see in the estimates tabled at the beginning of the fiscal year in March. As I mentioned earlier, that portion has not been increased in this budget.

Unfortunately, I can't answer your question at this time, but I will be happy to get back to you with more details.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

You have 12 seconds.

Mr. Johns, it's over to you, please.

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

Thank you.

We know the pandemic has created financial difficulties for many individuals and families through no fault of their own. For some, their credit rating has taken a hit. We also know that some groups, such as young people, women and racialized Canadians, have disproportionately felt the economic impacts of the pandemic.

The Treasury Board has a policy that requires credit checks as part of background checks for employment. Has the Treasury Board conducted a recent evaluation of this policy to see if it may be exacerbating inequalities that have arisen during the pandemic? Might it be creating barriers to employment for equity-deserving groups and hindering recruitment to the public service?

[Kelly Acton]

What I could tell you, Mr. Chair, is that the standards that are in place around security screening in government live within the policy suite under the policy on government security. We are actively looking at that standard, which dates back to 2014. It is under review and it will be renewed in the months ahead.

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

Great. We just want to make sure our concerns are related to you while you're doing that review.

Last week, the Auditor General released a report with concerning findings about the government's ability to prevent, detect and respond to cyber-attacks. The report found that departments are confused about cybersecurity roles and that four years after the Treasury Board directed departments to consider moving to the cloud, it had not provided the long-term funding for cloud adaptation.

Can you please advise if any of the funding in the supplementary estimates (B) will support improvements to cybersecurity and assist departments with moving to the cloud in a way that ensures the security of Canadians' personal information?

[Paul Wagner]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair.

We accept the findings in their entirety, and I think much of the work is actually already under way. We've clarified some of the roles that departments have. You will remember that I have spoken to this committee before about cyber as a team sport. There are roles that departments have, that central agencies have.

The money that you're talking about in terms of the supplementary estimates speaks to supporting the oversight of programs and projects. What's happening from the response to the OAG report is to first clarify the roles and responsibilities of departments and, second, to establish a funding model that takes into consideration the very different funding model when we move to the cloud. When we use software as a service, when we use cloud services, it's very different from the way we have funded programs and projects in the past. That work is under way.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

That's your time, Mr. Johns.

We go over to you, Mr. Bains, for five minutes.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is around the digital credentials. I know it was alluded to a little bit earlier as well, but can you inform the committee on your plans for digital credentials?

[Paul Wagner]

As mentioned before, this is a national initiative that we're working on with provinces and some private sectors.

One of the key tenets around digital credentials is that they're voluntary. This will be for Canadians who want to use digital credentials—and they'll be able to. I've given examples in the past where B.C. and Alberta have already instituted digital credentials, which are essentially digital versions of physical credentials that we have today. The vision is that you'd be able to use these digital credentials to authorize and access Government of Canada services. We're here today with one service, where you can use your B.C. services card, which is online, to access Government of Canada services.

We want to be able to establish that as a program, establish the standards across the country, so that we don't have to do it program by program and province by province. There is a standards-based approach that can be validated, and once you've established and actually validated that standard, you can then access the ecosystem to start to access government services.

We're working right now at consulting. Many of the provinces have already consulted with constituents, but we're also consulting with indigenous communities, persons with disabilities, persons less fortunate, to ensure that as we roll these services out, the needs of all Canadians are met.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you.

This was discussed a little bit, but it was more in my last question when I was asking about the indigenous businesses. Our committee is currently studying diversity in procurement. Earlier this year, I met with Supplier Diversity Alliance Canada, which promotes inclusive procurement.

How are diversity and inclusion being advanced in the public service? I might have a follow-up, if I have time.

[Carole Bidal]

For your question, is it in procurement or in the public service?

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

It's inclusion being advanced in the public service.

[Carole Bidal]

Okay. Thank you.

As you know, part of the minister's mandate letter is to advance diversity and inclusion in the public service, and a number of different initiatives will be undertaken. The minister did speak to a few of them in her responses. In addition to that, several initiatives, like the mosaic leadership development program, have been implemented. This supports equity-seeking employees at the EX minus one level, to equip them with a skill set to enter the EX group.

The speakers' forum has also been implemented. The federal speakers' forum on diversity and inclusion is a dedicated speakers' forum on diversity and inclusion that has been co-developed with members of equity-seeking groups. It's giving voices to public servants who are interested in sharing their expertise, their lived experiences and their perspectives. The forum was launched in April 2021, and has since posted profiles of 53 speakers online.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

I'm going to jump in again.

My follow-up on that is this. We've had sports organizations in recent news. You gave answers on the public service, but how much of it touches upon diversity in our sports organizations? Is there any impact we can make there?

[Carole Bidal]

With respect to sports organizations, the Minister of Heritage is responsible for sports. I think they would probably be in a better position to answer that question.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Okay. Thank you.

Do I have any more time, Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

You have 20 seconds.