Good afternoon. My name is Éric Dagenais, and I am the director general of Industry Canada's Small Business Branch.
Mr. Chair and committee members, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to provide you with an overview of Industry Canada's response to chapter 2 of the Auditor General's report.
Industry Canada's relationship with Canadian businesses is central to its mission of fostering a growing competitive knowledge-based economy. Changes in technology in the business environment are altering the context in which programs operate. We agree that government must take advantage of opportunities to adopt processes and delivery methods that will allow them to serve businesses more efficiently and effectively. Government interacts with businesses in every sector of the economy, in every region of the country, and at every business phase from start-up to closure. At the federal level alone, there are over 290 programs and services to businesses delivered by more than 30 organizations. Industry Canada acknowledges that there is an opportunity to improve the quality of service provided to businesses by reducing the complexity involved in accessing government information, programs, and services through an integrated service strategy.
Over the past three years, we have improved the front face of our online presence, although we acknowledge that more can be done, as highlighted by the Auditor General in his recommendations.
The Auditor General focused on two specific programs within Industry Canada that provide online services to small and medium enterprises, namely, the Canada business network and corporations Canada. I would like to speak to you briefly about these programs, since they are very good examples of how our online services for businesses have evolved over the past several years.
The Canada business network is a decentralized, horizontal program through which Industry Canada offers online services at canadabusiness.ca. And the regional development agencies provide telephone and in-person services. The program is delivered in collaboration with the provinces, territories and other non-governmental service delivery organizations.
The program is intended to help entrepreneurs and small business owners save time and make informed business decisions by improving access to government information and services.
Canadabusiness.ca is known for its collaborative and innovative online service delivery solutions. In 2012-13 the site facilitated access to the Government of Canada's programs and services for 2.2 million clients and was recognized as a leading web service for Canadian small businesses. The website won a GTEC award at the Government Technology Exhibition and Conference in 2010. The website was also recognized by Rogers' Connected magazine as the best government site for entrepreneurs and small businesses in 2013. In recent years the site has expanded its use of social media tools to inform and engage Canadian businesses on behalf of many departments and agencies.
In an effort to leverage services within the Industry Canada portfolio, Canada Business Ontario has taken on the role of the tier one national call centre to support the new National Research Council concierge service. This customized service, together with the dedicated online service, offers personalized assistance in navigating the network of business innovation assistance and programs available, allowing businesses to select the right options to address their individual needs.
The audit also looked at the online presence of Corporations Canada, the organization within Industry Canada that is the federal corporate law regulator. Corporations Canada administers the federal statutes that enable a business to incorporate, one of the key steps that may be pursued when starting a business.
Industry Canada was pleased that the Auditor General noted that corporations Canada provides more direct services to business and has offered federal incorporation services online since 1999. This speaks to the improvements that we have made in offering better services online to businesses.
Today, 98% of all business incorporations federally are filed online. Corporations Canada also has an arrangement with the Canada Revenue Agency, or CRA, to provide a corporation with a CRA business number at the same time that they incorporate. This is one less step that a business has to do separately.
Other online self-service features enable us to offer reduced fees and better turnaround time for transactions. They allow corporations to maintain up-to-date records and to file an annual return, a service that 94% of federal corporations take advantage of. An online filing is only $20 and the service standard is 24 hours or less, whereas a paper filing is $40 with a service standard of 5 days.
Most businesses in Canada are small businesses, which are reflected in the profile of corporation Canada's clients. Service enhancements to online services are determined according to feedback from clients about what is important to them and a cost-benefit analysis based on the volumes received for particular types of transactions. An effort is currently under way to ensure that documents on the Web are written in plain language and that processes are clearly explained so that clients can do many transactions without professional assistance if they want to. Feedback on this has been very positive to date.
Coming back to the Auditor General's findings for Industry Canada, I would like to reiterate that Industry Canada agrees with the recommendations.
In response to the first recommendation and in the context of the department's efforts for improving services to business, Industry Canada is developing an integrated strategy and plan for delivery of services to business focusing on the department and the portfolio. Industry Canada is also working very closely with federal partners to help improve services across government programs.
In response to the second recommendation regarding the identification and reporting on the costs of service delivery channels to support decision-making, we will be providing guidance to our service delivery business units to ensure a standard approach for attributing costs.
In closing, Industry Canada is committed to improving its delivery of online services to business and will work with its partners to address the recommendations of the Auditor General.
Thank you, committee members and Mr. Chair. I would be glad to answer your questions.