Public Accounts Committee on Nov. 17th, 2016

[Janine Sherman]

Again, that would be a policy decision of the government. That is not something I would be in a position to give you a view on.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Ms. Sherman.

We'll now move back to Mr. Weir.

[Erin Weir, NDP, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thanks very much.

Where a lack of appointments is actually slowing down these administrative processes, I'm wondering whether consideration has been given to the possibility of appointing tribunal members on an interim basis.

[Janine Sherman]

That is part of the government's approach in terms of implementing the policy, to make use of what I've referred to as transitional measures. Where there may be a selection process under way and a vacancy that is critical in terms of the continuing business of government, there would certainly be consideration given by the government to putting someone in place for a shorter period and not putting them through the selection process. Sometimes those are reappointments of existing members whose terms have expired, and those are short term, less than a year or up to a year, and subject to any legislative provisions. Sometimes there will be legislative provisions that require an appointment to be for a certain period of time. It may only be made for three years, in which case we wouldn't be able to do it for one year. We would have to do it for a three-year period.

[Erin Weir, NDP, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

In terms of the specific panels where the auditor has identified problems resulting from the lack of appointments, was the reason for this that there was a legislative barrier to appointing people on an interim basis? Why wasn't that tool used?

[Janine Sherman]

The one thing I should clarify is that during the period of the audit, which was 2010 to 2015, there was a different process in place. The transitional appointments are something that this government has put in place through the implementation of the new policy approach, but at any point in time, in managing the appointments to a tribunal, the minister would have the option of looking at temporary appointments, if they were needed.

[Erin Weir, NDP, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thanks for clarifying that.

In terms of the Competition Tribunal, what were the specific problems with appointing enough members?

[Janine Sherman]

Mr. Chair, I'll ask my colleague from Industry to respond.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Ms. Dooher.

[Shelley Dooher, Corporate Secretary, Office of the Corporate Secretary, Department of Industry]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question.

First of all, I'd like to say that ISED agrees with the recommendations of the Auditor General. We are wholeheartedly taking action on them and we're helping implement the framework.

With respect to the Competition Tribunal, it's important to know that the legislation calls for a set number of judicial and lay members, up to a maximum. It doesn't mean they all have to be in place all the time because it really depends on workload. I would say a couple of things. As far as I know, and I've only been in my position since December 2015, to the best of my knowledge the tribunal was able to deal with its workload.

There's one thing that might be missing from the dialogue today. One of the important things that PCO has put in place when we look at these new processes for lay members is that we're allowed to do larger competitive processes and establish pools of candidates, and to draw from that pool over a period of time. That really allows us far more flexibility when we're speaking about a need that could arise quickly because the workload changes, and we already have a qualified group of people.

I hope that answers your question.

[Erin Weir, NDP, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Weir.

We'll now move to Ms. Hutchings. Welcome to our committee.

[Gudie Hutchings, Liberal, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Thank you. It's wonderful to be here filling in for my colleague.

My question is for you, Ms. Sherman.

Regarding the online portal, where potential applicants apply, where they go in and they get their profile, I have a few questions. Are they notified once their profile is set up? I guess they'll know eventually if they are accepted or not, but do they get a notification when there are new positions? If someone was interested in an indigenous position or agriculture, would they get information that there are new positions available, or do they have to reapply every time?

[Janine Sherman]

There are two things on the profile. You first have to register and create your user profile. In that process, people will get confirmation that they are registered on the website. Once they have their registration and they apply for specific positions, they will upload their documents and have confirmation of that. Then they will be notified of the process. They will be contacted should there be further steps, if they will be selected for an interview or that next step.

Right now, we do not have the capability on the website to send automatic messages to people about other positions they might be interested in. When they do apply for a specific position, there often will be a flag in the notice of opportunity that they may be considered for other similar positions. We do have a process we're working out to make sure, as my colleague mentioned, about creating a roster specific to one entity. We are also working to see that, if people are qualified and perhaps there is a similar position they might be interested in, we would be able to consider them for that, too.

[Gudie Hutchings, Liberal, Long Range Mountains, NL]

I'm from a rural riding, as are many of my colleagues in the House. We hear often how connectivity and broadband are issues. If now the main place to apply is online, do you think that's going to be an impediment to people applying from rural ridings? We want to make sure we have our country represented from coast to coast to coast on all tribunals and boards.

[Janine Sherman]

Absolutely.

I don't think so. We are certainly sensitive to some of those issues. I'm not the expert on all the technicalities, but we have tried to make the system work with a minimum amount of space required, in terms of loading particular documents. We do have some experience. We also support the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, where we had a four-week period for applications and lots of traffic on that website. We were able to service people from all across the provinces who were affected. We haven't seen any difficulties yet.

[Gudie Hutchings, Liberal, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Seeing as it is 2016, do you use many forms of social media? I know that if I want to get the word out in my riding, I use Facebook. It seems to be the thing. Have you given consideration to doing that type of social media awareness?

[Janine Sherman]

We are working on that. We don't have a broadly based approach for that, but certainly in terms of individual notices of opportunities where we are working, we may have a specific recruitment strategy or advertising strategy that would involve social media. So yes, those are things we're certainly hoping to make use of.

[Gudie Hutchings, Liberal, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

You have a little time left. It is your party's time. I'll give it to someone on this side.

That would be Ms. Shanahan. Go ahead, Brenda.

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Actually, I want to come back to the Auditor General's point around what the real problem is here in expediting the filling of vacant positions. It seems to be around succession planning and forward thinking.

I would like to hear from each of the department representatives here today what their department is doing now to identify vacancies before they come up, succession planning. How are you supporting that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Go ahead, Ms. Sherman.

[Janine Sherman]

I can give a brief perspective in terms of how we are working with departments to that end. We certainly do track and monitor vacancies across the Governor in Council population, and share information with departments in terms of their minister's portfolio and upcoming vacancies. Having that information enables the departments to work in terms of the resources and the allocation of their time to those processes.

I don't know if my colleagues would like to add to that.

[David Dendooven]

Yes, over at INAC we have a small unit whose main purpose is to review all of the appointments for which our minister makes a recommendation to the Governor in Council. Those are the things we look out for, to see what's coming down. We're speaking with the different sectors, as well, which know the boards and organizations very well, to identify if there are unexpected deaths, for example. We monitor that, and we have a special unit that checks that and makes sure we're there and able to identify any vacancies and the like.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Does anyone else have any comments?

Mr. Cintrat.