Mr. Chair, I am pleased to be here to speak to the Auditor General’s recommendations regarding Employment and Skills Development Canada's role in ensuring that Canadians can electronically access government programs and services. I realize we have a short amount of time to respond to the recommendations, which ESDC supports, so I will keep my comments brief.
In 2005, Service Canada was created to improve delivery of services for Canadians, which has included giving Canadians greater choice in accessing services. We now offer a range of services via our Internet site, which had over 81 million visits last year. Through 1-800 O-Canada and specialized call centres, we handled 53 million calls, and our nearly 600 in-person locations saw 8.6 million visits. We have improved delivery of ESDC programs.
In addition, we provide Canadians with help and information on such life events as finding a job, pursuing an education, having foreign credentials recognized, raising a family, retiring, living with a disability, starting a business and much more.
We've also leveraged our capabilities to provide information and deliver services on behalf of approximately 30 federal partners, as well as the provinces, including CRA, the Department of Finance, CIC, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, DND, Environment Canada, DFATD, PWGSC, Transport Canada, Health Canada, and PHAC.
Service Canada also administers the common experience payment on behalf of the office of the Indian Residential Schools Resolutions Canada. Recently, we have added the passport delivery network, and Veterans Affairs programming. The Auditor General's report noted that ESDC, via Service Canada, has made incremental improvements to online services over the last six years, including My Service Canada Account, a secure online portal for Canadians to get personal information and services pertaining to employment insurance, the Canada pension plan and old age security.
Some of the improvements made to help expand online services are as follows.
We added a convenient way to sign in to My Service Canada Account, or MSCA, using banking credentials, and we implemented a cyber-authentication renewal project that supports reliable and secure online access to ESDC programs.
We added the ability to view and print T4 forms, thus reducing mailing costs. We also added e-Forms to our secure e-Account to allow "Out of Country" and "Training" forms to be completed online for EI, with more features to come in the year ahead.
We introduced Phase 1 of auto-enrolment for old age security.
And finally, we redesigned the Service Canada website earlier this year to improve navigation, as well as introduce a new and improved search engine on the Government of Canada and Service Canada websites.
The service environment isn't static; rather it is rapidly and constantly evolving. Canadians expect responsive service that takes advantage of modern-day smart technology. This means we are looking at a future in which more e-services and self-service options will be available to Canadians.
The department's service delivery vision will cause a shift in how services are delivered in the next five to 10 years. Although in person will always be there, the bulk of services will be delivered online. The department is working on a number of initiatives so clients will be able to carry out transactions as easily as they do business with private sector institutions, to move towards more automated and paperless processes for benefits to enhance efficiency and to further improve program integrity. For example, we will be providing new electronic self-service tools and improving existing ones and will be auto-enrolling clients, where possible, into statutory benefit programs.
This work is in line with the Auditor General's report and the recommendation that ESDC develop an integrated strategy and plan for the online delivery of services that are cost-effective and client focused. The department has developed a multi-year strategic plan to track and report progress on the initiatives being undertaken.
On the subject of developing a government-wide service delivery strategy to improve services to individuals and businesses, ESDC is committed to working closely with Treasury Board Secretariat and other departments and will establish with TBS a joint working group to ensure strong coordination of efforts as work advances on options for a government-wide strategy.
With respect to the recommendation that ESDC and the other departments that were part of the audit develop and use a standard methodology for identifying and reporting on costs of delivery channels, the department feels it can contribute significantly in this area. It has been doing work to enhance the ability to cost service delivery across multiple channels and contributed directly to work done in 2012 that compiled service delivery costs from 11 departments. Since then, ESDC has further advanced its approach to costing service delivery and is prepared to work with other departments and TBS to develop a standard costing methodology.
Mr. Chair, ESDC, through Service Canada, continues to work with its partners in other departments and agencies to address the Auditor General's recommendations and improve the quality of online services available to Canadians. We are striving to ensure these services are secure, available and relevant to users.
The department has developed an action plan to address the recommendations as it pursues its vision of delivering services that are modern and efficient while ensuring the best value for taxpayers.
Thank you.