Evidence of meeting #104 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was accenture.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
—the company One Financial, which is based in Brazil, was subcontracted by Accenture. Is that correct, and were other foreign companies subcontracted by Accenture?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Export Development Canada
It wasn't a subcontract, given that it is a subsidiary of Accenture. This is with respect to the loan accounting system, which will be able to facilitate the collection and repayment of CEBA amounts from the loan-holders.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
That is the time, I'm afraid. We're over the limit.
We turn now to Ms. Bradford.
You have the floor for five minutes, Ms. Bradford.
February 29th, 2024 / 4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Thank you very much.
Thank you to the vast array of witnesses here today for their excellent testimony. We appreciate that.
I would like to start with Ms. Lavery.
There was a question asked earlier about the call centre and the volume of calls. You probably don't know this off the top of your head, but could you maybe undertake to provide us with facts and figures for the call centre and the calls that it received month by month during the COVID period?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Export Development Canada
We can, because that was tracked daily at the time.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
That's super.
This is for the Department of Finance. There's been a lot of talk lately about the CEBA loans and repayment. What is the repayment rate of the CEBA loans?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Export Development Canada
Mr. Chair, I can [Inaudible—Editor].
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Yes.
What flexibility is being offered to CEBA loan-holders who were unable to meet the—
Liberal
Bryan May Liberal Cambridge, ON
I'm sorry. I think there was a misunderstanding. She wanted to answer.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
I don't care who answers. I just want to know the answer. It doesn't matter to me who answers.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Export Development Canada
Today, we are officially in receipt of $26.1 billion of funds with respect to CEBA. That equates to $6.5 billion of forgiveness in the CEBA program.
Of course, the period during which companies can still work with their banks to perhaps refinance the loan has not expired yet. That will expire at the end of March. Also, the banks have a time delay in providing data to us, so we expect to see some additional funds come in from the date that the official data corresponds to.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
The figure I hear bandied around a bit is 80% of small businesses that took the CEBA loan repaid it within the deadline. Does that seem approximately correct?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Export Development Canada
Yes. The deadline was January 18 this year. We do not have the official data from the banks, but in the range of 75% to 80% have repaid and taken advantage of the forgiveness.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Okay. Thank you.
This is for the Auditor General. “Professional and special services” is a broad category of spending. Can you break down what is included under professional and special services? What would that cover?
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General
Do you mean the line item in the public accounts of the government's financial statements?
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General
I think you should ask the comptroller general's office. They would be well positioned to answer what's made up in that line.
Former Executive Director, Government Accounting Policy and Reporting, Treasury Board Secretariat
Various components are part of professional and special services. They include business services, management consulting, training, legal services and translation. There are approximately 12 different categories.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
This is for the Department of Finance or maybe for the Auditor General—whoever knows the answer. Climate change is causing an increase in extreme weather events, which, of course, are very costly. The federal government is supporting the provinces when the burden is greater than their ability to recover.
Can someone inform the committee of the cost of those disasters to the federal government through its different programs? Who would know that?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
We don't have that at our fingertips. There would be different types of programs. I don't know if you mean the disaster financial assistance arrangements or something broader where there have been specific measures, but we can pool our efforts and come back with something comprehensive about that category.
Liberal
Valerie Bradford Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
If you could send us something in writing, that would be good.
In the public accounts, there was approximately $26 billion related to indigenous claims. What impact did this have on the deficit? Do you feel this funding is important?