Government Operations Committee on March 8th, 2023

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

It's another file completely.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

—that is our time.

I understand you might have some information you could share with the committee in a follow-up to Mr. Johns's question.

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

The $3.7 million, I could provide more insight on that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Sure, and on any of the other questions that Mr. Johns has outstanding.

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

I can also discuss the hard work that is being done and what we're trying to accomplish and the next phase of having a Black public service mental health fund for the public service.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you.

It's to Ms. Kusie for the final five minutes.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Minister, I am consistently shocked by the headlines that I read with your picture. The one I saw most recently—which I guess is what we'll study next—is on the estimates, which are $432.9 billion, which I understand is an 8.9% increase compared with what was proposed a year ago.

Since we're here today discussing the supplementary estimates, I see that you're asking for $10.3 billion in the supplementary estimates. I'm shocked that you require this amount of funding at a time where Canadians are seeing a 40% increase in food prices and at a time where young Canadians are being priced out of potentially ever owning a home.

How can you possibly justify $10.3 billion more when Canadians are in a difficult cost-of-living situation as well as facing 40-year-high inflation?

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

Thank you.

Actually, I'm seeking approval for $4.7 billion for priorities in these supplementary estimates to provide ongoing military support to Ukraine and financial assistance to Ukrainians who have come to Canada to escape the conflict.

I'm also asking for reimbursements to indigenous communities for costs incurred on reserves due to emergencies such as natural disasters. It's also for providing first nations children with health, social and educational services and support.

It's also for helping developing countries transition to low-carbon economies as part of the global fight against climate change. This is what I'm seeking approval for today.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you for that.

What I can't understand as well is that, given these incredible amounts of billions and a 9% increase foreseen in the estimates compared with a year ago.... I mean, that's a lot of money. I don't know how many Rolexes or BMWs that would purchase.

In addition to this large sum of money, many services for Canadians are not being delivered. Last year, we saw Canadians having a lot of difficulty obtaining passports. We've seen 2.1 million immigration cases in our backlog. We've seen a ballooning public service as well as incredible costs to bring in consultants in effort to try to deliver these services.

It seems very evident to me that you're failing on both fronts. This government supposedly committed to a pay-as-you-go model, yet we're being asked for more funding now. What I'm seeing is significantly more spending and lack of delivery of services for Canadians.

How can you justify that, please?

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

First of all, I believe we've all been through COVID in the last two years. We did deliver in supporting Canadians, workers, families and businesses be able to bridge through the pandemic. Many investments, like the wage subsidy, helped to support those businesses that are still open today and were able to keep their workers.

Recently, we also committed to supporting vulnerable Canadians who feel the cost of living. As we all know, the cost of living going up is a global effect of the pandemic, so we have doubled the GST credit and are sending cheques to 11 million Canadian households that need it the most. We're also providing a $500 top-up to Canadians struggling to pay their rent. We've brought forward the dental care for Canadian children who are 12 years and under to help families cope with making sure they have that support. I can also share the fact that we've permanently eliminated the federal interest on Canada student and apprentice loans.

Therefore, we are continuing to support Canadians in these difficult times. Our investments are targeted. They are intended to make sure that we can continue to grow the economy and that Canadians can continue to be in a good situation while we are, of course, looking at this global difficulty that we're living with.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you, Minister.

We'll go to Mrs. Thompson for the final five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Minister. It's good to see your team with you again.

We know bargaining with unions takes tremendous effort and good will, but it can obviously bring about successful agreements, such as the one you mentioned during your last appearance at committee, regarding ACFO.

Could you please update the committee on how that went, and then the renewal of public service health care plan and why that matters for the current round of collective bargaining?

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

Thank you.

We are continually making sure that we, as a government, are committed to working together in providing a good conversation with the unions. Of course, we want, in good faith with bargaining agents, to achieve results that are fair for employees, but also reasonable for taxpayers.

I have to compliment the fact that one success of working all together is that the improved public service health care plan shows we achieve something very important when we work together.

To give you a bit more information on this modernized plan, it will provide and improve support for mental health by increasing coverage for psychological services and reducing barriers to access. It also provides greater access to hearing aids and mobility devices, like wheelchairs, which was requested during the negotiations. It also improves coverage during parental and caregiving leaves, which are a reality that many Canadians and public servants live with today. Also, for the first time, it provides coverage for gender affirmation.

All of these improvements come at no additional cost to the taxpayer. I thought you'd like to hear that.

I'm very grateful to bargaining agents and federal retirees for their collaboration to make these improvements happen. As we know, when there's a shared commitment to work together, we can deliver positive results. This is what we will continue to work with as a guiding principle for the current negotiations we're having right now.

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

Thank you, and well done on that.

I'm going to switch to climate emergencies. We know that they're becoming more dire each year, certainly in Atlantic Canada, which is my province. We saw that a very short number of months ago.

Indigenous communities are often some of the hardest hit. Could you please tell the committee what work is being done by the government to ensure that indigenous communities are being supported through tough times?

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

Thank you for that.

As we know, we've been providing supports to indigenous communities, especially with the difficulties that we have been having with the climate change, by supporting them with resources, and we will continue to do so in the future.

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

Thank you.

As you well know, there has been some misinformation surrounding the relationship between executive performance bonuses and departmental result targets. Can you share with the committee how they actually work?

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

Can you repeat that? I'm having a hard time hearing.

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

I'm sorry. No problem.

There's been misinformation surrounding the relationship between executive performance bonuses and departmental result targets. Could you speak to the committee about how they actually work?

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

Thank you.

We know that executive performance pay and departmental results, which you're asking about, are something that we have to make sure we differentiate. Bonuses hold executives accountable for individual results. They are different from organizational goals, which are dependent on policy decisions.

Therefore, it's like apples and oranges to try to compare those bonuses with the departmental results.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

That is our time, I'm afraid.

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

Oh. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Minister, thank you for joining us. I appreciate your sticking around. We'll let you go.

We're going right back to our regular round.

Colleagues, we are short of time, so we will just do one round of five minutes, and five minutes, and then two interventions of two and a half minutes. Then we have to vote on the supplementary estimates and then go in camera on a couple of items.

Ms. Block, you're up for five minutes. Oh, I'm sorry.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

I have a different question, and it's just while the minister is taking her leave. You can let me know if this is out of order or not. It's a follow-up to a commitment to get information back to a member when they ask for it, or to the committee when it asks. I do know that PACP has adopted this motion. I want to suggest it here. I don't know if it will be in order.

They passed a motion. It reads:

That, when undertakings are given by witnesses at committee meetings to provide further answers to questions or follow up information, the witnesses be given three weeks to provide the committee with a written response, if a response is not received within the specified time, that the committee invite the appropriate accounting officer to appear before the committee to explain why the information has not been provided in the time requested.

I want to leave that with you. Let me know if it's something that we can deal with here and now or if we would deal with it later.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

We can deal with it here and now. This is something that public accounts and several other committees I've sat on actually do, where they pass a formal motion. We constantly ask for documents or answers back. They have a three-week time period. We can do it as an official motion, or we can just agree that it will be the will of the committee going forward.

Funnily enough, I think it was passed by a former Liberal member of the public accounts committee.

Go ahead, Mr. Kusmierczyk.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Mr. Chair, it's an interesting motion, an interesting suggestion. I was just wondering if my colleague would allow us to consider it and then take this up at the next meeting.