Evidence of meeting #84 for Public Accounts in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was recipient.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:15 p.m.
NDP
Alain Giguère NDP Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Massive budget cuts have been made, especially within CIDA.
Can you tell us what kind of cuts have been made in terms of your budget and staff?
5:15 p.m.
Chief Financial Officer, Canadian International Development Agency
We will loose $319 million by fiscal year 2014-2015.
5:15 p.m.
NDP
Alain Giguère NDP Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
What percentage of your staff will be affected over the course of those two or three years?
5:15 p.m.
Chief Financial Officer, Canadian International Development Agency
We estimate that about 250 positions will be cut over the two or three years of budget 2012 implementation.
5:15 p.m.
Chief Financial Officer, Canadian International Development Agency
Of our staff?
5:15 p.m.
Chief Financial Officer, Canadian International Development Agency
Our base level is about 2,000 individuals. So we are talking about 250 people out of 2,000.
5:15 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP David Christopherson
I'm sorry, Monsieur. I let you go over a little to get your stuff out, but—
5:20 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP David Christopherson
No, Monsieur, you're done. I'm sorry.
Over to Mr. Byrne. You have the floor for three minutes.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
One of the key planks or pillars to the blue ribbon panel's recommendations, and that which was accepted by the government, was a duty to consult with clients on any potential changes before such changes occurred.
May I ask you, Mr. Ferguson or Mr. Barrett, to verify what I just said, to indicate what you found in that regard, if indeed what I just said is accurate? Then maybe we'll have a follow-up from Mr. Scrimger.
5:20 p.m.
Principal, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Yes.
It's been a little while since we reviewed the blue ribbon panel report, but I believe there were 32 recommendations, and I'm quite certain that was one of the key aspects of it, the importance of consultation with the community that's going to be affected by the changes. That is also why that's one of the areas we looked at in our audit report: were they conducting consultations with the recipient community?
April 16th, 2013 / 5:20 p.m.
Principal, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
In all five cases we did find there was some degree of consultation. So it wasn't a situation where they were just going ahead and making changes without any consultation. There always was.... And we pointed out a couple of cases, particularly with respect to HRSDC—as has already been mentioned—and Western Economic Diversification, where we saw there was actually very effective consultation.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
Okay. Thanks very much.
Mr. Scrimger, would you like to follow up on that?
5:20 p.m.
Assistant Comptroller General, Financial Management and Analysis, Treasury Board Secretariat
I really don't have much I can add. I believe consultation is now part of an inherent process in management of Gs and Cs in departments and agencies.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
Thanks very much.
Mr. Chair, one of the things I would like to explore with my few minutes is that the Auditor General said, in his opening comments:
...we also found that neither the Treasury Board Secretariat nor the other federal organizations we examined had assessed the impact of their actions on recipient organizations.
Mr. Scrimger, one of the things I wanted to focus in on wasn't necessarily recipient organizations; it was non-recipient organizations.
Would you consider, in terms of any follow-up review of the consequences of some of your decisions, an impact on whether or not there was a consequence on non-recipient organizations? In other words, those organizations may have actually experienced a barrier to accessing grants and contributions because of the changes, and in part for the reasons that I described as a potential? Would you consider that, and would you commit to doing so?
5:20 p.m.
Assistant Comptroller General, Financial Management and Analysis, Treasury Board Secretariat
I would suggest that the focus of our work will be on reducing the administrative burden to recipient organizations.
I think your second question could potentially be an element that we might examine as part of a policy review, but I certainly can't commit to any specific action at this time.
5:20 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP David Christopherson
Okay. I'm sorry, your time has expired, Mr. Byrne. Thank you.
Thank you for your answers.
With that, I want to....
Oui?
5:20 p.m.
NDP
Alain Giguère NDP Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Chair, I would like CIDA to submit a document with some information.
Can I make that request?
5:20 p.m.
NDP
Alain Giguère NDP Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
CIDA said that it was undergoing massive staff cuts. As paragraph 2.31 states that risk level is now being monitored by deputy heads, I would like us to be provided with the staff management plan, so that we can ensure that CIDA still has the expertise and human resources it needs to assess risk. I would like that document to be submitted to the committee.
Thank you.