Industry Committee on Nov. 30th, 2011

[Richard Dicerni]

It will be done partly in the context of the program and through what the provinces and the private sector are doing to have a better idea of what is left to do.

[Philip Toone, NDP, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

For the program in 2012, is 98% still the planned percentage for March 2012?

[Richard Dicerni]

Yes, that is the objective we're aiming for once the program has been completely implemented. Certain seasons don't make it easy to do the building necessary. So the 98.5% objective may not be attained in 2012. But, once the program has been completed, we won't be far off that number. It sometimes takes a certain number of years to complete the implementation.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Let's go back to the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. We see that $187 million were not spent, and that represents about 31.6% of the total funding for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. That agency was also responsible for providing most of the funding for Canada's Economic Action Plan in that region.

Since there are still a lot of economic problems and unemployment, and so there are needs, why did the agency spend so little of its budget for southern Ontario?

[Richard Dicerni]

I am sure that my colleague, the deputy minister responsible for the agency, would be pleased to appear before you to explain that.

It's sort of the same answer I gave to Mr. Regan. These agencies have their own deputy minister for administrative accountability. As for political accountability, they have their own minister: Mr. Goodyear. Mr. Paradis is not responsible for that situation. It's the same thing for me. This does not come under my competencies as deputy minister.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

I have the same reservations as Mr. Regan in that respect. The agencies report to the Department of Industry, but since they have their own structure, we cannot really ask questions when the ministers are present because they don't have their own bureaucracy.

[Richard Dicerni]

It's in this book for presentation purposes. The political accountability is the responsibility of another minister, in fact.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

My last question is technical.

If we look at line 40b, we see an adjustment of $5 million. These funds were already granted for the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede. Five million dollars had already been distributed in the budget for 2011. So does this mean that the event received $10 million?

[Richard Dicerni]

No, it's $5 million.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Was this set out in the initial budget? Was it increased by $5 million?

[Richard Dicerni]

No, it's the same $5 million.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

I suppose the amount was carried forward because it hadn't been spent initially.

Statistics Canada's budget was re-adjusted by $6 million. We know that the justification for that expense was that this is a census year. We also know that we are going from a long-form census to a short-form census. Did this change in form have any effect on the budget?

[Richard Dicerni]

Not really. There was a small adjustment, but there is one every time we do a census.

This year, for example, the participation rate on the Internet was extraordinary. We beat international records. No other country has ever had such a high participation rate through the Internet. It had an effect on the number of people the agency had to hire to go door-to-door to get all the forms completed. There wasn't a large adjustment. The budget included funds for improving the analysis of the consumer prices so a better model could be developed.

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

I'd like to find out what specific plans Industry Canada has in relation to broadband access for rural and remote communities beyond 2012.

As a committee, we've been studying e-commerce and mobile payments. We've been hearing a lot of questions about what will happen in small and rural communities that are not in the big urban centres. There's been lots of talk about it.

What are Industry Canada's plans, and are they in the estimates?

[Richard Dicerni]

You won't find anything in here in terms of new plans. Having said that, there are a number of tracks, des pistes, we are looking at.

First, as I said, we are in ongoing conversations with all provinces. I just finished a conference call with provincial deputy ministers. One of the items was indeed on mapping what is taking place and what each province is doing. A number of the eastern provinces, for example, have made a commitment to connect all of the province. We're working with provinces to do mapping to identify what's left.

Second is the private sector. I mentioned the deferral account of the CRTC. The government recently advised the CRTC that they could go ahead and provide moneys back to Bell and Telus to do further work.

Third, I mentioned the spectrum auction that is to take place in the future. The minister announced yesterday that the rules would be made early in 2012.

Some of the companies have suggested, as part of their submissions, that if they are the winners in the auction, there should be obligations placed on them in regard to rural deployment. We are pursuing the rural deployment goal through a number of tracks.

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

I know that my colleague, Mr. Regan, has a question that relates to that. Then if you wouldn't mind, you can hand it back over to Mrs. LeBlanc.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I have a quick follow-up question.

In the last fiscal year, 2010-11, you had authorities to spend $158.4 million on Broadband Canada, which affected rural Canadians, and you only spent $30 million. Why?

[Richard Dicerni]

There are a couple of reasons. One is that we were dependent on receipts of applications, and some of them took some additional time to negotiate and work through. Actually, we are still negotiating some of them. That's partially why some of the amounts were reprofiled.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

My colleague may want to ask what happened with the rest.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

There are two explanatory notes on page 90—I'm talking about line 1 and line 10—which talk about funds available following the strategic review, which started in 2010.

Could you briefly explain what these budgetary restrictions entail? How did they arise?

[Richard Dicerni]

It will take a certain number of years to complete this review. We knew that this was coming. As a management team, we put measures in place starting a few years ago so that these reductions would not be abrupt, but would take place more gradually.

In that sense, we reduced the number of consultants and contracts. We reduced that side of operations. When we were hiring, we looked at that very carefully. In some sectors, each time two people retired, only one person was brought in to replace them.

So we have gradually reduced expenses in all our operations for consultants and employee-related expenses.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you.

Mr. Regan, quickly.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I have two things. First, we should get to vote on this on Monday. I would ask if we could have the information I've asked for by then—before then preferably, but by Monday—to be able to vote on this.

Secondly, the notice of the meeting, of course, under orders of the day refers directly to the regional development agencies, ACOA, DÉC-Q, and WED. It seems to me, in view of that, that we ought to have those officials here. Certainly, that ought to be a practice in this committee, if you're doing the estimates. I'm surprised it didn't happen.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

We haven't done that in the past.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Look here. Read it.