Public Accounts Committee on Oct. 2nd, 2024

[Cassie Doyle]

I actually did not apply. I was contacted by an executive of ISED to ask if I'd have my name, you know, stand to be appointed to this board and for—

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Why did you accept this position?

[Cassie Doyle]

I accepted the position because I was very familiar with SDTC in my former roles, and I believe in its mission. I also felt that I could make a contribution.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

I realize that you have quite an extensive résumé, but do you want to walk through what your qualifications are that make you qualified to take on this very significant role?

[Cassie Doyle]

As I mentioned, I've served as a deputy minister of environment with the Government of British Columbia. I worked as the associate deputy minister with Environment Canada and as the deputy minister of Natural Resources Canada. I also served as Canada's consul general in the Silicon Valley, where I worked with Canadian technology companies.

Since leaving the public service, I have served on a number of Crown boards, with the Alberta Energy Regulator, with B.C. Housing in British Columbia, and with the Canada Energy Regulator. I've had a fair amount of governance experience in Crowns, as well as in volunteer organizations, actually.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Do you want to specifically talk about any of that governance experience you've had? I know it is quite integral to the role you're going to play here.

[Cassie Doyle]

Yes.

I was appointed to chair the Canada Energy Regulator, and I was in that role for five years prior to coming here. When I was a deputy minister, I worked with a number of Crowns—including SDTC, in fact—on governance and the work between the government and Crown agencies.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Thank you so much for sharing that. I appreciate it.

Why do you think the NRC is best suited to transition into what SDTC's role has been? Why do you think it would be better for the NRC, out of all the government departments, to take this over?

[Cassie Doyle]

It has a very long history of working with industrial sectors across the country, particularly in the area of innovation and bringing on new innovative companies. I think it has deep expertise in technology and, of course, science. It's the National Research Council. Particularly with its IRAP program, it seems like a very good fit for the programming of SDTC.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Thank you.

The NRC and the PCO have previously testified at our committee. They said that SDTC is working off expedited timelines in the transition we are all trying to get to, and that the transition is going well.

How are you working with the NRC to ensure that transition is happening in a timely fashion? What are some of the challenges you may be facing with that transition?

[Cassie Doyle]

One area I've been particularly involved in is the transition of programming from SDTC to the NRC. We hold hundreds of agreements with individual companies. Our goal is to ensure a seamless transition of those contracts between SDTC and companies to the NRC, as well as the intake of new applications. It's our intent to try to do this in a way that has the least impact on those we serve, which are clean-tech companies in Canada.

It is being undertaken in an accelerated fashion. We want to ensure we're building and ensuring a strong knowledge transfer between SDTC and the NRC. That work is going very well.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

In your opening remarks, you talked about the recommendations provided by the Auditor General, and that 10 out of 12 have been implemented.

Can you expand on that a bit? What does that actually mean?

[Cassie Doyle]

It's actually 10 out of 11. The AG made 11 recommendations that were specifically targeted to SDTC.

There's been a considerable amount of work in advance of our appointment. It was undertaken to create a reinforced due diligence process. In some cases, it's ensuring the documentation is as in-depth as the processes themselves. That work has been done.

As I mentioned, there's been work on a contribution agreement with ISED in order to strengthen reporting and make more explicit the provisions around conflict of interest. There is a new quality assurance process that's been developed for disbursements to ensure that recipients of funds continue to be in compliance with eligibility, because the disbursements tend to take place over a number of years.

We tabled with this committee, back in June, an action plan on how the recommendations were being implemented. The amount of work has been considerable.

I would also say there's been a new independent ethics adviser appointed to ensure that everyone in the organization is aware of their responsibilities when it comes to conflict of interest.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Sinclair‑Desgagné, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Doyle, thank you for your testimony.

You mentioned, in response to one of my colleagues, that you were well aware of the planned transition to the NRC. Is that correct?

[Cassie Doyle]

Excuse me. I'm not getting my interpretation.

I now see it—my apologies.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Ms. Sinclair-Desgagné, we'll start over. You have six minutes.

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would kindly ask you to ensure that these tests take place before the meeting so we don't waste time. Thank you very much.

I'll start over.

Ms. Doyle, you mentioned that you were well aware of the coming transition to the NRC. Is that correct?

[Cassie Doyle]

Yes.

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

All right.

We heard quite a bit of contradictory testimony about employees who would be transferred to the NRC. One of the most compelling witnesses told us that no one in senior management would be transferred to the NRC, only employees.

Is that correct?

[Cassie Doyle]

There's no decision that has been made around the employees being transferred to the NRC at this point. I can't really give you a conclusive answer yet because those decisions are still to be made.

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

And yet, witnesses specifically told us that senior management would not be transferred. Employees, on the other hand, would have job security. To begin with, the minister promised that everyone would be transferred. Then, the deputy minister and the witness who appeared before this committee said that all employees, except senior management, would be transferred. Now you're telling me that no decision has been made.

That seems odd.

[Cassie Doyle]

I am familiar with some of the testimony that's been made at this committee, but I can tell you that, as the board, we have no direction or mandate around who is to be transferred. We are working with the National Research Council, but the decision on transferring personnel, the final decision, is yet to be made.

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

All right.

It's quite surprising that four months later, and after this whole saga, no decision has been made and the board of directors isn't up to speed.

Can you tell me when that decision will be made? Will it be shared with the public, or at least with this committee?

[Cassie Doyle]

Yes, and I can certainly provide to the committee a timeline on that. We are moving in an accelerated fashion, but we haven't gotten down to the point of actually determining exactly which personnel will be transferred to NRC. Our intent is to transfer as many as possible.