Canadian Heritage committee  I was just going to say that the cultural spaces program is a program for which there is far more demand than we have resources. So we had lots of shovel-ready projects that we knew clients were ready to get at, and they also had partners.

Canadian Heritage committee  The big starting point is April 1 of next year, which is when the new transfer payment policy will be fully implemented and we will have the service standards published. One year after that, we will have the results of how quickly we are able to provide service on each of our pro

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll give you a couple of examples. For instance, on the online application--although this is a program that is a little bit different--we have CAVCO, the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office, which has automated from start to finish the process for people to get certific

Canadian Heritage committee  We expect that things will accelerate because there will be less error if we can get the online applications. That will take more time to do than just 2010, but that's where we're going: to have that error-checking at the front end so the client sees it right away. And the risk

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't have the exact figure, but the 2,200 applications that were awarded grants and were under multi-year agreements had all been approved by the minister or by the minister of state. It is good for them also to approve grants. The 1,400 and 2,300 cases I mentioned are all gr

Canadian Heritage committee  Very few programs are covered by five-year agreements. Normally, we aim for a two- or three-year duration, that is what we are trying to do. The problem affecting the five-year agreements is that the new terms and conditions of the programs are renewed for five years. When we are

Canadian Heritage committee  Canadian Heritage was selected as one of the six vanguard departments, as they're called, because of the high volumes of grants and contributions and this diverse array of programs that we have. As Jean-Pierre mentioned, from the small not-for-profit organizations to the large c

Canadian Heritage committee  We've made quite a bit of progress. There are three significant steps. One of the things we had as a model department already was a grants and contributions centre of expertise. Essentially, all 37 and 48 subprograms can have one place to try to get consistent processing, a consi

Canadian Heritage committee  The biggest process change that we're bringing in is around risk management. The idea is that right now we have almost 100% review of files to manage risk. So we're looking for documentation--

Canadian Heritage committee  No, no, the minister also has that same due diligence requirement. The minister has the authority to sign. The minister is the one who's accountable for the programs. Generally, the minister's office is looking at issues such as whether it is meeting program requirements, and w

Canadian Heritage committee  It's across the entire department. We have to manage risk by putting a system in place where we are able to separate the low-risk clients from the higher-risk clients. And by “risk” I mean is that client going to be able to deliver on the objectives of the program that's been set

Canadian Heritage committee  At the Department of Canadian Heritage, the minister of Canadian heritage or the minister of state in particular program areas see every grant contribution other than the two programs that are listed, which are the Canada Day and the athletes assistance program. So all 4,000-plus

Canadian Heritage committee  I just wanted to add that last year, in 2008-2009, we increased the number of multi-year contributions by 10%. It was a pilot project. We did so for nine programs, including one for the arts and one for book publishing. We launched a program to increase the number of... It is cur

Canadian Heritage committee  I know that the committee has discussed the problems we've had. There's no question there are problems, and we recognize that. We're moving forward with this action plan in response to the blue ribbon panel. We are reviewing our processes. We are striving to be more efficient and

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Jean-Pierre. First of all, I would like to say that our department is responsible for the grants and contributions. Canadian Heritage provides close to $1.1 billion a year in grants and contributions. We have a total of 39 programs with 43 subcomponents to those prog