Official Languages Committee on March 8th, 2011

[Liseanne Forand]

... but they have been trained and we have positions...

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chair, I would like her to answer my question.

I personally addressed Mr. Carson Littlejohn in French and he answered me in English. The Director General of Strategic Services in Newfoundland, Ms. Carole Therrien, telephoned me to tell me to stop calling her offices, to say that they have my messages on the answering machine and that they know what I want. She asked me to call the minister directly or to go and meet with her. She also said that she did not like me calling their offices in the Atlantic region.

How do you respond to that? I am an MP and a Canadian citizen from the Atlantic region.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Now let's let her answer.

[Liseanne Forand]

Thank you. I would like to begin by saying, sir, in answer to your first question, that we are going ahead with training managers in the Atlantic region, which was recently amalgamated.

The two top positions, the assistant deputy minister and the director general, are both occupied by people who meet the requirements of a bilingual position. In EX-1 and EX-2 positions, as we call them, we have reached a bilingual capacity of about 64%. The people are being trained. So we want to make sure that people who fill these positions can supervise and provide all necessary support in both languages, 100%. We have also made great efforts in training; for example, we have even implemented special training programs for the Atlantic region specifically with regard to the language of work.

With regard to the comments or the answers that you receive from our communications representative, as far as I understand, she did her best to answer your questions. She answered you the first time and subsequently she was asked simply to direct the questions that were less operational in nature and that she could not have answered, to the central administration. This is what she was asked to do.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Is that what you asked her to do?

[Liseanne Forand]

Not personally, but this is what they had asked her to do.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

You mean that I, as an MP...

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Mr. Godin, your time is up.

Now let's move to Mr. Murphy.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

On Mr. Godin's point, it would seem that the Atlantic region of Service Canada is designated administratively as unilingual English, which when translated will make interesting headlines in the French-language newspapers of Atlantic Canada tomorrow.

I think it is a warning to the government. It had better react on behalf of the 20% to 25% of the population of Atlantic Canada who are francophone as well as the 50% or so of the population, like me, who have learned French and consider themselves bilingual. That's a little shot across the bow to the government to get on this. Presumably, Service Canada is doing this with some direction.

Your plan of reorganization, did it save money? Will it save money?

[Liseanne Forand]

The purpose of the reorganization plan was not to save money. The purpose of the—

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Will it save money?

[Liseanne Forand]

The purpose of the reorganization plan was to deliver more effective service and to do it in a more efficient way.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

For the third time, will it save money?

[Liseanne Forand]

We've reduced the number of executive positions across the region, but the purpose of the reorganization was not to save money.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

For the fourth time now, will it save money?

[Liseanne Forand]

I can't tell you if there will be savings attributed to the reorganization. We've been undergoing a significant business transformation in Service Canada in how we deliver the services, like employment insurance, across a number of things to which we would not attribute any savings. The purpose was not to save money. The purpose was to improve the service delivery in Atlantic Canada.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Does the plan have in writing the projected costs before and after implementation? Is there a written document to that effect?

[Liseanne Forand]

I'm not aware of a written document that would have established the costs.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Really?

[Liseanne Forand]

We would have prepared documents on the administrative and service benefits, particularly on consolidating administrative functions.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

There's nothing in writing in your department that shows the cost of things now and after this reorganization. There's nothing in writing in your department.

[Liseanne Forand]

We could look at the public accounts.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I can do that myself

[Liseanne Forand]

You can look at the departmental report.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

All right. I want to move on.

You terminated some contracts with what you called “private service providers”. They're in fact community organizations that provide services on your behalf because they best know the community. I'm looking at the Cheticamp example, but there are many others. How much money did that save? If you don't know, perhaps you could provide documentation or answers to the chairman.