Members of the committee, Mr. Chair, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. I am pleased to have this opportunity to discuss the Public Service Modernization Act legislative review. What we call the PSMA review is, in fact, examining the administration and operation of the Public Service Employment Act and the Public Service Labour Relations Act, two of the components of PSMA.
As the secretary noted, the Auditor General made one recommendation related to the work my team and I are doing. It calls on my team to ensure that information provided to support the legislative review will allow the report by the President of the Treasury Board to provide meaningful information to Parliament on the extent to which the expectations of the Public Service Labour Relations Act and the Public Service Employment Act have been met, and to propose any changes, including improvements.
We agree wholeheartedly with the objective of having sound and useful information, and as we planned for and began to execute the review, we took this into account. To ensure that our review is rigorous and credible, we have undertaken a range of activities to enable us to have the information we need. Allow me to mention only a few.
We began by going through the legislation clause by clause to develop a sound appreciation of the intentions, objectives, and changes. We then determined the data and information we required and where best to obtain it. To the extent possible, we sought to use existing data. If new information was needed, we tried to collect it in a coordinated manner, thereby maximizing efficiency and effectiveness. This enabled us to focus our efforts on bringing the essential information together, analyzing it, and drawing legitimate conclusions from it.
Early on, we recognized the importance of working with key partners and stakeholders who share an interest in, and hold important information about, people management. These include the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, the Public Service Commission, deputy ministers, bargaining agents and HR professionals. Not only did we want to learn about stakeholders' experiences, but we wanted our review to be a useful process and to act as an opportunity for learning by everyone, including for our key partners and stakeholders.
We developed a comprehensive engagement strategy that has enabled us to consult well over 500 individuals and organizations across the country. This included deputy heads, managers, employees, HR professionals, bargaining agent representatives, various communities and employment equity groups, all of whom provided important qualitative information.
We used a variety of methods to gather this information. It was key for us that these efforts brought together individuals representing different departments, groups, professions and regions.
As the senior advisor leading this review, I have also had ongoing bilateral discussions with senior officials at the Public Service Commission and the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer on a range of issues. My team and I also spoke with a number of former deputy heads, retired senior federal officials, organizational change experts, academics and others. This allowed us to both draw on their knowledge and experience and to complement what we were gathering from other sources.
We have also consulted with former public service senior officials, human resources professionals, and bargaining agents who were in place when the PSMA was developed and tabled in Parliament. This offered us an important historical perspective.
I have also participated in two armchair discussions hosted by the Canada School of Public Service. These sessions were another valuable means of hearing from public servants across the country.
Our research, which is both quantitative and qualitative, is providing insight into how the legislation is being administered. It also informed us on strong practices and progress, as well as areas where possible adjustments may be required. It includes input from: the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, the Public Service Commission, the Public Service Staffing Tribunal, the Public Service Labour Relations Board and the Canada School of Public Service.
Finally, I would like to mention that we've also undertaken limited consultations with officials in other jurisdictions both in Canada and abroad, and we've explored what's been done in other countries that have recently reformed their human resources legislation. In short, our work so far puts us in an excellent position to complete the work of this legislative review. We are currently completing our analysis in order to develop options and recommendations, and we will be providing our report to the President of the Treasury Board in early 2011. We've noted the interest that's been expressed in the review and look forward to the results of the review being made public.
Until then, I think it's--