Human Resources Committee on Sept. 29th, 2011

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

I asked because I get the feeling that people who are under best 14 weeks pilot project in these areas of high unemployment have trouble with it. Sometimes there are mistakes saying that they're not calculated by the best 14 weeks. Maybe it's the fault of the automation. Would that be the case?

[Paul Thompson]

We're not aware of any systematic errors with respect to the best 14 weeks. I do know that those claims are indeed harder to automate. There's probably a little more manual effort associated with those claims than with the average claim.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

When you say you're getting up to a certain level of automation, then, are you fixing the system so that these pilot projects can be accommodated?

[Paul Thompson]

We are working our way up. We're prioritizing our work. We'll automate the easier and less complex and more frequent types of transactions first, and we'll work our way up accordingly.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Does that include the pilot projects?

[Paul Thompson]

I'd have to check the exact schedule as to when those--

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Could you get back to me on that?

[Paul Thompson]

That may not be determined yet, because we're working our way up. It may be part of the set of claims that are not--

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

When is the schedule expiry date?

[Paul Thompson]

We have a three-year automation agenda associated with the strategic review commitment that was announced earlier and the 600 FTEs that were noted.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Is it correct to say that it's within 50 kilometres of a service centre or not?

[Cheryl Fisher]

Ninety percent of citizens are served within 50 kilometres of where they live as calculated by the driving distance.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Is that via a service centre or service outreach? How does that work?

[Cheryl Fisher]

It's either one, so both of those are included in that.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

The outreach centre means that you go to visit people, right? You visit these areas from a certain centre?

[Cheryl Fisher]

That's right.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

How often do they visit?

[Cheryl Fisher]

It's adjusted based on volume and demand, but--

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Okay. I asked because in my riding, my area, it's twice a month.

[Cheryl Fisher]

Typically it's once every two weeks, once a week, sometimes once a month. It's really based on the community needs and volume.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

When it comes to reducing the number of processing centres from 120 down to, I think, 22, why is it that when you decide where these centres will be--and I'll use Atlantic Canada as an example--there has to be one in St. John's, one in Moncton, and one in Halifax. it seems to me that if you're looking for efficiencies and savings, moving them to the most expensive centres is probably not the best way to go about saving money. Why were these centres chosen?

[Carolina Giliberti]

We looked at a number of factors when we did an analysis of where we were going to consolidate our sites. We examined the current footprint and we looked at the processing sites across the country. We examined each site and reviewed it from both a regional and a national perspective. We also looked at some factors such as bilingual capacity, labour force availability, and the overall regional balance. We also looked at things such as the opportunity for lower-cost accommodations.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

That's what I'm getting at. It's quite obvious they're in the most expensive centres out there.

[Carolina Giliberti]

But we would have to balance it with other factors that might be affecting that community, such as our bilingual capacity, such as--

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

How does the money you're saving create an efficiency, then? You're keeping the other centres open. The regional minister of Newfoundland and Labrador has said that no jobs will be lost.