Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I'm happy to be here to talk to you about this important subject. We're very pleased with the work that we're doing. I want to introduce my colleagues, Gerry Thom, the acting senior vice-president for policy, and Phil Morton, our chief financ

Government Operations committee  Again, thanks for having us. I'd like to take this opportunity of meeting with you today to discuss our main estimates, as we are required to do, and our reports on plans and priorities. The Public Service Commission is responsible for safeguarding merit-based appointments and m

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much for the question. I want to point out that, so far, the commission has not spent all the money from its budget because it is evaluating new work methods to help it achieve economies of scale. The commission can become more efficient by using new technologies

Government Operations committee  We did not take the transformation lightly. We did not decide on our own to undertake a transformation. This is a transformation we have been working on for a year, in very close consultation with the people who are delegated under the legislation. The consultations are ongoing.

Government Operations committee  We are basically foreseeing a change in the way we work. We do not really anticipate major budget cuts, as our roles will change. Before we can determine how our budgets will be affected, we need a number of practices. As you can see in the report we submitted, our budgets will

Government Operations committee  First of all, on the reasons that we've seen a decrease in the hiring of youth or the entrance of youth, recruiting youth is not actually difficult. They are applying for the jobs or to the processes that we have for student hires. Attracting youth is not what is difficult. What

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much. One of the office's fundamental principles is to ensure the non-partisanship of public servants. We use our oversight systems to ensure the absence of political influence. All departments have a representative within their organization who has the informatio

Government Operations committee  It includes the departments covered by the Public Service Employment Act.

Government Operations committee  However, we work with other organizations that need guidance and advice. Their regimes are still relatively similar to what we apply in the departments covered by the legislation. As I was saying, we provide a lot of information on employees' rights and obligations. When concern

Government Operations committee  When we investigate, we include the parties the investigation concerns. For instance, if the union has not been called upon, it will generally not be included in the investigation process. It is a different matter when the employee concerned gets their union involved.

Government Operations committee  I'm not sure I understand.

Government Operations committee  One of the improvements that we made very recently, as of April 1, was to create a single window for all applicants, which is the PSRS. There used to be dual systems. That is one of the improvements that we've put forward very recently so that you have a single window and can fol

Government Operations committee  I can't tell you at this point that I have that evidence in hand, but when we talk across the system, there is definitely a sense that we may have had an impact on that latter statement. A lot of it has been because of program reviews, and the fact that the public service wasn't

Government Operations committee  Actually, at this point in time, the evidence, if there were such evidence, would be lying within the Treasury Board Secretariat. It would not be within the compounds of the commission. There are a lot of anecdotes to that effect. Whether or not that has been proven or demonstra

Government Operations committee  Well, we always saw the public service as being able to attract people because of a lot of the benefits and because it provides a longer term perspective for people in their careers, because the private sector can fire somebody more easily than the public service can. Although th