Industry Committee on Nov. 2nd, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

We're going to move to Mr. Longfield. You have seven minutes.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks, Mr. Arora, for being here and for your patience.

Yesterday in the House we heard the finance minister say that he wanted to ensure that Statistics Canada would be operating independently of the government. It was good to hear you say that in your opening statement as well, to reinforce that for the record.

There's a comment you made in The Globe and Mail that I think really highlights a value that this committee could acquire from the work that you're doing. It also reflects on my background as the managing director of a Canadian division of a multinational. Data in Europe is a lot stronger for business than data in North America has been, especially in Canada.

Your comments mentioned the effect of globalization on Canada and better capturing the activity of Canadian companies overseas and that of foreign companies operating within Canada. In terms of the data that's going on in business overseas and the data on behalf of multinationals operating here, how do you intend to work into the data of the businesses around the world and within Canada?

[Anil Arora]

Obviously, we work very closely with the bank, with our colleagues in ISED, and with a number of others—Global Affairs, and so on—to understand where those data gaps are. I think we have a very robust relationship with those entities to identify where, in our context in Canada, we think we can have more information. My comments in The Globe and Mail are informed by some of the existing conversations that have been had and some of the work that's going on.

At the very macro level, we're obviously post-2008, the financial crisis, so whether it's G20 and some of the work by IMF, it's about how to ensure that we have more robust statistics to find out where exactly we're at risk and what the global situation is with regard to our investments, such as our pensions and so on. How are investments from other countries into Canada, in various institutions, spread? What is the nature of that? If we have global currency fluctuations, for example, what is the level of risk that we subject ourselves to with our future pensions, and so on?

There are a number of aspects that look at where we have that kind of investment. Even with just housing and foreign ownership, and so on, which I spoke at some length about as well, I think it's important for us to have a good sense of where we're at risk. For most Canadians, the investment in their house is a very significant investment, so even at the householder level, shifts there can have some very significant impacts.

In terms of businesses themselves, I think we need to look at the businesses that operate in the global supply chain. What is that value added? Are we actually calculating GDP in the right manner? There are all those data gaps, and we have a number of projects to try to fill those gaps.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

These are exciting times, interesting times.

[Anil Arora]

Indeed they are.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you for that.

I'm sharing my time with Mr. Sheehan, but I'm also very interested in the housing aspect. The not-for-profit sector really needs to know the nature of homelessness and the nature of affordable housing, and the work that you'll be doing in the housing area will also help many more Canadians, so thank you for that.

I'll let Mr. Sheehan carry on.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you very much, Lloyd.

Again, thank you for your presentation. Congratulations on your new position.

During yesterday's fall economic statement, Minister Morneau announced some amendments that will be made to the Statistics Act.

One of them that I'd like you to comment on, to reinforce the independence of StatsCan, is the appointment of the chief statistician to a fixed five-year renewable term based on merit.

How will this change benefit the person in this role?

[Anil Arora]

I think there are a number of issues that essentially lead to where the government's position is and some of the changes in the legislation. You rightly pointed out that one of the four key elements there is to ensure that the independence of Statistics Canada, and obviously the head of the agency, remains and is not, as with other deputy ministers, subject to serving at pleasure.

It's not unlimited, of course. The chief statistician, moving forward, would have to also equally be accountable for the decisions he or she makes and have to make those transparently. When a questionnaire is prescribed or an agreement is made to share data, and so on, those would also become equally....

The decisions that are made by the chief statistician would become equally transparent and it would be for cause that a chief statistician could be dismissed. It's on good behaviour, essentially. It's not an unconditional five years. There are some conditions there. That would make the agency and the work it does, represented by its head, more independent and in law.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Very good.

You have held a number of positions within government in various capacities. Describe how your past working history will help you in your new role in working with stakeholders, and in particular, perhaps make a comment about Canada's indigenous people. In Sault Ste. Marie, my riding, we have two major first nations, as do many other ridings.

[Anil Arora]

Thank you very much for that question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

You have 30 seconds to answer.

[Anil Arora]

It's a big question, so I'm not sure I can do it justice in 30 seconds.

I've had a lot of experience in the private sector and in different levels of government. I've done a lot of work in the international sphere, and obviously in a policy and regulatory role in the last two departments, so I understand how policy functions. I understand the importance of data in that policy function. I think I can bring some of that experience to Statistics Canada, while maintaining that fine line and not going over to the policy side, because that's not what Statistics Canada does.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Nuttall, you have five minutes.

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Thank you.

First of all, congratulations on the appointment. I haven't been able to say so personally.

Earlier you said that your conversation with the minister in advance of the appointment was with regard to StatsCan. At any point during that conversation was there talk about Shared Services?

[Anil Arora]

This is prior to my coming on. I'm trying to recall; it was a very short conversation.

I think he mentioned that obviously I would be facing a number of challenges. It was very clear at that point that Wayne Smith's departure had raised the issue about the infrastructure capacity. He also reiterated his priorities in the mandate commitment. I think essentially he talked about the independence and that Shared Services would be one of the challenges I'd have to look after. Also, he was committed to ensuring that the census results would be made public. Essentially, it was along those lines.

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

There was talk about Shared Services.

Since then, have you received any mandate to implement the move with Shared Services? You've negotiated an agreement, so have you at any point received any instruction to implement it?

[Anil Arora]

I don't need instructions to continue the business of—

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

I hope you don't need instruction. That's true. I'm asking if you did receive any instructions.

[Anil Arora]

As I said at the front end, there's been no discussion other than saying this is going to be a challenge, and I'll be able to deal with it. I remain confident that I can deal with this in a collaborative way. As I said, I'm already making some progress on that front.

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

IT centralization projects were considered in the U.K. and Australia, but the stats offices were exempted. Have you looked at either of those two jurisdictions, as to the rationale of why they went in that direction?

[Anil Arora]

No, I have not.

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Do you feel if you wanted to have completely independent support services, you could?

[Anil Arora]

I suppose, but that's a theoretical question as far as I'm concerned—

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Could you decide to break today and say, “To maintain the independence of my organization, I want my own databases and I want my own systems and programs, or I'm gone.”?

[Anil Arora]

Let me—