2006-2007
Departmental Performance Report

Human Resources and Social Development Canada

The Honourable Monte Solberg, P.C., M.P
Minister of Human Resources and Social Development

The Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Labour

Table of Contents

Messages

• Ministers' Messages
• Management Representation Statements

Section I Overview

• Departmental Overview
• Introduction
• Mandate
• Expenditure Profile
• Socio-Economic Year in Review
• Summary of Departmental Performance by Strategic Outcome
• Management Priorities
• Corporate Risk

Section II Performance Discussion by Strategic Outcome

• Policies and Programs that Meet the Human Capital and Social Development Needs of Canadians
• Enhanced Canadian Productivity and Participation Through Efficient and Inclusive Labour Markets, Competitive Workplace and Access to Learning
• Safe, Healthy, Fair, Stable, Cooperative, Productive Workplaces and Effective International Labour Standards
• Enhanced Income Security, Access to Opportunities and Well-Being for Individuals, Families and Communities
• Achieve Better Outcomes for Canadians Through Service Excellence

Section III Supplementary Information

• Organizational Information
• Financial Performance Overview
  • Table 1A: Comparison of Planned to Actual Spending (including full-time equivalent) HRSDC
  • Table 1B: Comparison of Planned to Actual Spending (including full-time equivalent) SDC
  • Table 2A: Resources by Program Activity HRSDC
  • Table 2B: Resources by Program Activity SDC
  • Table 3A: Voted and Statutory Items HRSDC
  • Table 3B: Voted and Statutory Items SDC
  • Table 4A: Services Received Without Charge HRSDC
  • Table 4B: Services Received Without Charge SDC
  • Table 5: Loans, Investments and Advances (Non-Budgetary)
  • Table 6A: Sources of Respendable and Non-Respendable Revenue HRSDC
  • Table 6B: Sources of Respendable and Non-Respendable Revenue SDC
  • Table 7A - HRSDC: User Fees Act - Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
  • Table 7A - SDC: User Fees Act - Social Development Canada
  • Table 8: Progress Against the Department's Regulatory Plan
  • Table 9: Details on Transfers Payments Programs
  • Table 10: Foundations (Conditional Grants)
  • Table 11: Response to Parliamentary Committees, and Audits and Evaluations
  • Table 12: Sustainable Development Strategy
  • Table 13: Procurement and Contracting
  • Table 14: Client-Centered Service
  • Table 15: Horizontal Initiatives
  • Table 16: Travel Policies
  • Specified Purpose Accounts HRSDC
  • Introduction
  • Employment Insurance Account
  • Government Annuities Account
  • Civil Service Insurance Fund
• Specified Purpose Accounts SDC
• Introduction
• CPP Summary
• Statutory Annual Reports
• Summary of Maximum Monthly Benefits
• Number of Persons Receiving Old Age Security Benefits by Province or Territory and by Type
• Old Age Security Payments, by Province or Territory and by Type, Fiscal Year, 2006-2007
• Consolidated Report on Canada Student Loans Program
• HRSDC Financial Statements

Section IV Other Items of Interest

• HRSDC Website

Ministers' messages

Message from the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development

I am pleased to present to Parliament the 2006-2007 Departmental Performance Report for the Department of Human Resources and Social Development. This Performance Report represents achievements against the commitments set out in the Report on Plans and Priorities, and provides Canadians with the assurance that their government is accountable for results achieved.

Canada's New Government has made it clear that we want to bolster Canada's competitiveness. Advantage Canada - our long-term economic plan - is designed to make us a world leader for today and future generations. One of its key pillars is building a Knowledge Advantage; we have set a bold, but achievable, goal to create the best educated, most skilled and most flexible workforce in the world.

Budget 2007 put the Knowledge Advantage in action with the announcement of the new Labour Market Architecture. Through this new architecture, the government will invest $3 Billion over 6 years to increase participation in the workforce through new agreements with provinces and territories. In addition, I have signed agreements with Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Quebec and the Yukon for the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers. As well, Budget 2007 enhanced the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership Program by $105 million over five years.

As Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, I have had the opportunity to see first hand how the Department touches the lives of citizens. I am excited by the important steps we are taking as a department to help Canadians seize opportunities and build better lives for themselves and their families.

During this past year, Canada's New Government has also taken a leadership role in supporting the choices of Canadians to actively participate in society. In July 2006 we launched Canada's Universal Child Care Benefit. Some two million families now receive benefits that support their child care choices.

We are also helping persons with disabilities take advantage of opportunities and participate more fully in our society. We have put in place changes to the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security Act (Bill C-36) that provide enhanced disability benefits for long time contributors to the Canada Pension Plan. At the same time, in collaboration with Canada Revenue Agency, seniors who file income tax returns will benefit from the on-going renewal of the Guaranteed Income Supplement without having to re-apply every year.

As well, in December 2006, Canada's New Government delivered on its commitment to help those who are homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless by introducing a new Homelessness Partnering Strategy. Combined with renewed investment in Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's renovation programs, this represents an investment of $526 million over two years to assist vulnerable Canadians.

Finally, Service Canada is the Government of Canada's one stop service delivery network. In partnership with other departments, agencies and levels of government, it provides Canadians with a growing range of government programs and services. We have introduced an automated, on-line reading service to assist the visually impaired and introduced 171 new points of service, some of which provide multi-lingual service. This has resulted in ninety-five percent of Canadians now living within 50 kilometres of a Service Canada point of service.

Human Resources and Social Development Canada is committed to service and excellence. We will continue to serve Canadians with a focus on enhancing accountability and real results.

The Honourable Monte Solberg, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Human Resources and Social Development

Message from the Minister of Labour

The Labour Program plays a pivotal role in creating a successful and prosperous Canada by promoting and protecting the rights and well-being of employees and their employers. The workplace is where Canada's wealth is generated and where most Canadians spend a significant part of their lives. It is the goal of the Labour Program to help ensure that the workplace functions well.

Through our programs and services, the Labour Program helps both employees and employers meet the challenge and opportunities of the changing workplace. By promoting fair, stable, safe, healthy and productive workplaces and by providing labour related research and information, we help improve the quality of life of all Canadians.

We are proud of our successes in the last year, which include:

• the resolution of important labour disputes;
• the modernization of rules and regulations, and improvement of enforcement and compliance related to occupational health and safety;
• advancements related to issues concerning employment and pay equity, wage earner protection and the review of labour standards;
• promotion of a racism free workplace; and
• advancements in the negotiation and implementation of international labour cooperation agreements and related activity programs.

The Labour Program works with other orders of government in many of its activities. We collaborate with our provincial and territorial partners to help build better workplaces across Canada. On the international stage, where we are the voice of Canadians concerning labour issues, we work with our international partners to promote core labour standards and improved living and working conditions.

The collaborative efforts of the Labour Program and Human Resources and Social Development Canada, will continue to ensure that Canadian employees and employers are provided with every opportunity to compete and thrive in the new global workplace and to build a stronger, more sustainable Canada.

The Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development
Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec

Management Representation Statements

Human Resources and Social Development Canada

I submit for tabling in Parliament, the 2006-2007 Departmental Performance Report for Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide for the Preparation of Part III of the 2006-2007 Estimates: Reports on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports:

• It adheres to the specific reporting requirements outlined in the Treasury Board Secretariat guidance;
• It is based on the Department's approved Strategic Outcome(s) and Program Activity Architecture that were approved by the Treasury Board;
• It presents consistent, comprehensive, balanced and reliable information;
• It provides a basis of accountability for the results achieved with the resources and authorities entrusted to it; and
• It reports finances based on approved numbers from the Estimates and the Public Accounts of Canada.

__________________________________________________
Janice Charette
Deputy Minister Human Resources and Social Development

Labour

To the best of my knowledge, the results achieved in support of the Labour program are presented in a complete, accurate and balanced manner in the 2006-2007 Departmental Performance Report for Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

__________________________________________________
Munir A. Sheikh
Deputy Minister of Labour and Associate Deputy Minister
of Human Resources and Social Development

Service Canada

To the best of my knowledge, the results achieved in support of Service Canada are presented in a complete, accurate and balanced manner in the 2006-2007 Departmental Performance Report for Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

__________________________________________________
Hélène Gosselin
Deputy Head of Service Canada and Associate Deputy Minister
of Human Resources and Social Development

Section I Overview

Human Resources and Social Development Canada

Departmental Overview

Introduction

This document reports on the performance of Human Resources and Social Development Canada for the period from April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007. It reports on the Department's achievements related to the commitments set out in the 2006-2007 Report on Plans and Priorities.

This section provides a departmental overview, including a brief description of the socio-economic environment, and a summary of departmental performance. Section II includes detailed performance results information by strategic outcome. The financial tables and information concerning the specified purpose accounts are in Section III, and Section IV provides more details on programs supporting activities and the consolidated financial statements.

The Department's vision is to build a strong and competitive Canada, to support Canadians in making choices that help them live productive and rewarding lives and to improve Canadians' quality of life. The Department's broad economic and social mandate touches all Canadians: from families with children to seniors, from school to work, moving from one job to another, from unemployment to employment, and from the workforce to retirement. The Department works to provide Canadians with the tools they need to thrive and prosper in the economy and society through access to learning and training opportunities, safe and productive working conditions and labour-management relations, as well as policies, programs and services that support the well being of individuals and families and their participation in the economy and society.

Ensuring Canadians have the tools they need to participate fully in the knowledge-based economy and to face today's labour market challenges, requires the active participation of a multitude of partners with the Department acting as a catalyst. Human Resources and Social Development Canada works closely with its provincial and territorial partners, building on established relationships through multilateral and bilateral forums. Employers and unions have an important role in workplace skills investments. Promoting socio-economic well-being also involves working in partnership with the voluntary sector and not-for-profit organizations, learning partners, community groups, including official language minority communities, and the private sector to develop integrated programs and provide information and services to Canadians. The Department works with numerous international partners to learn and share best practices and approaches to maximizing participation of Canadians in economic and social development.

To deliver on its mandate, the Department provides programs and services to millions of Canadians. This includes providing income support through legislated pension benefits, temporary income support during periods of unemployment, and employment programs that enable Canadians to prepare for, find and keep employment. The Department promotes lifelong learning by encouraging skills development in workplaces and by developing and disseminating information about the labour market. Human Resources and Social Development Canada also financially invests in learning to facilitate access to post-secondary education and adult learning opportunities, and reduce barriers to adult learning and literacy and early childhood development. The Department's social policies and programs help to ensure that children and families, seniors, people with disabilities, homeless persons, communities, and others who face barriers have the support and information they need to maintain their well-being and participate in society and the workplace. The Department also promotes stable industrial relations and safe effective workplaces within the federal jurisdiction, as well as negotiating and implementing trade-related international labour agreements.

Service Canada provides one stop access to services of Human Resources and Social Development Canada and a number of other federal departments. It builds on best practices in service excellence found within Canada and abroad and builds on over a decade of work within the Government of Canada to improve the delivery of service to Canadians. The Service Canada delivery network brought together close to 600 points of service in communities throughout Canada; a national 1 800 O-Canada telephone service providing Canadians with information about federal government services and 23 other networked call centres; benefits processing infrastructure and, a range of on-line services at http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/en/home.html.

Human Resources and Social Development Canada's programs and services are designed to achieve results across a broad range of social and labour market outcomes. Five strategic outcomes form the structure for reporting plans, priorities and resources in this report:

"Policies and programs that meet the human capital and social development needs of Canadians"
"Enhanced Canadian productivity and participation through efficient and inclusive labour markets, competitive workplaces and access to learning"
"Safe, healthy, fair, stable, cooperative, productive workplaces and effective international labour standards"
"Enhanced income security, access to opportunities, and well-being for individuals, families and communities"
"Achieve better outcomes for Canadians through service excellence"

Canada's Performance

Canada's Performance is an annual report to Parliament on the federal government's contribution to Canada's performance as a nation, highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement. As a companion piece to the Departmental Performance Reports, the report provides an overview of how the performance of individual departments and agencies contributes to broader, government-wide outcomes in the following key policy areas: economic affairs, social affairs, international affairs, and government affairs.

The strategic outcomes developed by Human Resources and Social Development Canada contributed to several government-wide outcomes as set out in Canada's Performance 2006.

For more information on Canada's Performance 2006, please visit:
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/report/govrev/06/cp-rc_e.asp

Click on image to enlarge

Text version: Program Activity Architecture

Mandate

On February 6, 2006, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and the former Social Development Canada were consolidated into the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development to be styled Human Resources and Social Development. The powers, duties and functions of the Minister of Social Development were transferred to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, and the Minister was styled as Minister of Human Resources and Social Development. The Minister was also made responsible for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Further, a Secretary of State for Seniors was appointed on January 4, 2007.

Until new legislation is enacted, the Minister will rely on the provisions of the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Act and the Department of Social Development Act for specific authorities.

The Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Act defines the powers, duties and functions of the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, the Minister of Labour, and of the Canada Employment Insurance Commission. The legislative mandate of Human Resources and Skills Development is to improve the standard of living and quality of life of all Canadians by promoting a highly skilled and mobile labour force and an efficient and inclusive labour market. The Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development has overall responsibility for the employment insurance system, while the administration of the Employment Insurance Act is the responsibility of the Canada Employment Insurance Commission.

The Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Act provides for the appointment of a Minister of Labour who is responsible for the Canada Labour Code and the Employment Equity Act, as well as other legislation on wages and working conditions. The departmental statute provides that the Minister of Labour make use of the services and facilities of the Department. The Act also sets out the mandate of the Minister of Labour to promote safe, healthy, fair, stable, cooperative and productive workplaces.

The Department of Social Development Canada Act defines the powers, duties and functions of the Minister of Social Development. The mandate of Social Development Canada is to promote social well-being and security. In exercising the power and performing the duties and functions assigned by this Act, the Minister is responsible for the administration of the Canada Pension Plan, the Old Age Security Act, and the National Council of Welfare, and the Universal Child Care Benefit Act.

Service Canada operates within the legislative mandate and framework of the current departmental legislation. Its mandate is to work in collaboration with federal departments, other orders of government and community service providers to bring services and benefits together in a single service delivery network.

On June 1, 2006, the Policy Research Initiative was integrated into the Human Resources and Social Development Canada portfolio. It leads horizontal research projects in support of the medium-term policy agenda of the Government of Canada and identifies data needs and priorities for future policy development.

Expenditure profile

Human Resources and Social Development Canada includes resources of the former Human Resources and Skills Development and the former Social Development departments. Human Resource and Social Development Canada expenditures on programs and services total more than $79 billion, of which $75 billion or almost 95% are direct benefits to Canadians through Employment Insurance (EI), the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, loans disbursed under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act and other statutory transfer payments. The Department expenditures were $1.0 billion in voted grants and contributions; $33.6 billion in statutory grants and contributions; and $2.1 billion for Employment Insurance Part II.

Socio-economic year in review

This section provides an overview of the socio-economic context for 2006, covering the broad macroeconomic and social indicators that are of interest to Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

The issues that were facing the Canadian economy and labour market in 2005 became even more pronounced during 2006. Economic growth was strong and modest productivity growth was accompanied by employment gains. The sources of growth have been shifting west in response to high commodity (especially energy) prices, and the capacity of the economy to grow is being constrained by available labour supply, despite inter-provincial migration towards those fast-growing provinces.

The Canadian economy performed well in 2006

Canada's economy grew by 2.7 percent in 2006, a rate slightly less than the previous year. Relative to previous years, the drivers of economic growth were domestic, led by spending by Canadian consumers and business investment. Strong domestic demand, combined with a high Canadian dollar and competition from low-cost countries such as China helped imports to grow faster than exports and lead to a deteriorating trade surplus. General global economic strength and booming demand from China pushed up commodity prices as evidenced by the Bank of Canada's commodity price index which has almost doubled since 2002.

Canadian labour productivity slowed in 2006. Most of this weakness is attributable to recent declines in productivity growth in the resource sector. In particular, shortages of skilled labour in the west and developments associated with activity in Alberta's oil sands, resulted in strong growth in the volume of hours worked without generating increases in production. Canada's productivity growth was again below that in the United States.

Employment continued to advance strongly

Employment advanced at a rate of 2.0 percent (315,000 jobs) in 2006, outpacing the gains recorded in 2005 and for the third consecutive year, gains in employment were predominantly full-time. The employment rate —the percentage of people aged 15-64 who are working — rose to a record 72.9 percent in 2006, surpassing the previous record registered over the prior two years.

Employment growth was constrained by the capacity of the labour force to grow. For the third consecutive year, labour force growth stalled, largely reflecting a slower population growth but also an absence of gains in labour force participation. The participation rate for those working age Canadians remained almost unchanged in 2006 from the previous year at 77.9 percent. In contrast, the unemployment rate fell to a 30-year low of 6.3 percent. The long-term unemployed (people unemployed a year or more) made up only 8.7 percent of all unemployed in 2006, its lowest share since 1990 (the average share of long-term unemployed among the G-7 countries is 30.9 percent).

The Bank of Canada estimates that the economy was operating very close to its potential during 2006.

High energy prices and the high Canadian dollar are leading to shifts in economic activity, employment and even populations

The Canadian economy is a mix of regional economies, each with its own mix of industry and resources. The Canadian economy has, overall, benefited from high commodity and energy prices and falling manufacturing prices, as Canada is an energy and commodity exporter and (on net) a manufactured products importer. However, these major changes in commodity and manufactured goods prices have had quite different impacts on particular sectors and regions.

On the one hand there have been booming investments in the energy sector, higher incomes overall and even better fiscal positions on the part of governments. As a result, the West, particularly Alberta and British Columbia, have been quite strong and recorded the fastest employment gains.

On the other hand, the combination of the high energy and material input costs, the high value of the Canadian dollar, and the high level of competition from emerging economies has led to another cycle of considerable weakness in the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing output growth has been weak and Canadian manufacturing has now joined the almost world-wide trend of economies losing manufacturing jobs. Ontario and Quebec have been the most affected provinces.

Yet, by historical standards, economic health has actually been quite widespread provincially. With the exception of Nova Scotia, all provinces recorded job gains in 2006. When looking at unemployment, labour market health seems to be even more widespread than employment growth. All provinces except Prince Edward Island had falling rates of unemployment, and most were at or near their lowest unemployment rates on record. Large provincial differences in unemployment rates persisted, however. Alberta had an unemployment rate of 3.4 per cent, the lowest while the rate in Newfoundland and Labrador was 14.8%, the highest. During 2005, Alberta attracted over 100,000 inter-provincial migrants and even more during 2006. These are coming from across Canada, with over a third from Ontario alone.

Earnings increased steadily and at a faster rate than inflation

Economic progress is not just about jobs, it is about earnings in those jobs. In 2006, average hourly earnings rose 3.3%, up slightly from 2005. With inflation running near 2.0% last year, these were significant real gains in average real hourly earnings. Among unionized workers, major wage settlements negotiated between employers and their unions gave average annual increases in base rates of 2.5% in 2006, slightly higher than the average increases in 2005.

The low-income rate remains unchanged for most family types

Earnings gains are, of course, not evenly distributed and poverty is an ongoing issue, often best measured by how many families fall below a particular income level and by how much. In 2005, an estimated 655,000, or 7.4%, of all Canadian families were below the Statistics Canada after-tax 'Low-Income Cut-Off ' Families in low-income needed an average of $7,900 to bring their income above the cut-off. While, overall, the incidence of low-income remained unchanged between 2004 and 2005, female lone-parent families experienced a 6.9-percentage point decline in their low-income rate over the period. This decline continued a four-year downward trend — reflecting sustained increases in the earnings and in the proportion of earners among lone mothers. Despite these gains, the incidence of low-income among female lone-parent families remains more than four times as high as that of two-parent families with children.

... but the gap between the lowest- and highest-income families and between the ones with the lowest and highest net worth is wider

The difference in income between the top and bottom 20 percent of families widened during the past decade. While this gap fluctuated between 1980 and 1996, by 2005 it had reached $105,400. Though all income groups benefited from the positive economic conditions that have prevailed since the early 1990s, the largest gains were for the top 20 percent. Current evidence suggests that the recent gains observed in the top quintile of percent of families accrued mainly to the top 1 percent of families. Interestingly, between 1999 and 2005, the median net worth of families in the top 20% of the wealth distribution increased by 19%, while the net worth of their counterparts in the bottom 20% remained virtually unchanged.

Canadian communities

According to the 2006 Census more than 81% of the Canadian population lived in an urban centre of 10,000 people or more, up from 76% in 1971. About 68% of Canada's population now live in communities located within the nation's 33 census metropolitan areas. International migration continues to be the major population driver of large urban centres. In 2001, 62% of all immigrants lived in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver compared to 52% in 1981. As a result, projections suggest that visible minorities could represent 50% of the population of Toronto and Vancouver by 2016.

Summary of Departmental Performance by Strategic Outcome

This section summarizes achievements of Human Resources and Social Development Canada by strategic outcome and provides a report card on the Department's programs' performance against indicators and objectives outlined in the 2006-2007 Reports on Plans and Priorities.

Policies and programs that meet the human capital and social development needs of Canadians

During the year, the Department provided strategic policy, research, and communication expertise in support of the government's efforts to improve the standard of living and quality of life of Canadians, and promote their social well-being and security. A major focus of this work was supporting the government's commitments contained in the 2006 Budget and economic and fiscal update, including supporting the principle of creating new opportunities and choices for people that was announced in Advantage Canada: Building a Strong Economy for Canadians.

In 2006-2007 a number of strategic initiatives were launched that will help the Department become a recognized centre of excellence for labour market and social development policy and knowledge. One such initiative included progress in developing an approach that recognizes the importance for economic and social strategies to be mutually reinforcing, and that fairly reflects both the social development and economic aspects of the Department's mandate. A medium-term policy planning process was launched that implements a forward-looking perspective through which the Department can identify and prepare for challenges expected to emerge over the medium-term. To ensure that it remains current over time, a provision was built into the planning process that calls for regular reassessment of emerging issues.

Significant progress was made during the year on integrating the Department's extensive knowledge capacity to better inform its policy and program development functions, including the development of a draft knowledge plan that encompasses priority setting for creating, maintaining, using, and disseminating knowledge, data, and research.

Enhanced Canadian productivity and participation through efficient and inclusive labour markets, competitive workplaces and access to learning

During 2006-2007 Human Resources and Social Development Canada worked on a number of broad fronts—supporting labour market efficiency and inclusiveness, enhancing the competitiveness of workplaces, and helping Canadians gain access to learning opportunities—toward the common goal of supporting Canada's continuing prosperity through enhanced productivity and participation. The Department's labour market, workplace skills, and learning programs complemented each other in working to create the best educated, most skilled and flexible labour force, and in contributing to a number of broad Government of Canada outcomes: strong economic growth, an innovative and knowledge-based economy, income security employment for Canadians including targeted groups and those facing barriers, and employment for Canadians, and a fair and secure marketplace. Departmental efforts under this strategic outcome and its major program activities were consistent with the principle of creating new opportunities and choices for people that is outlined in the Government's economic plan: Advantage Canada: Building a Strong Economy for Canadians.

Labour Market

Work by the Department's labour market program activity to increase labour market inclusiveness and enhance participation was pursued through a variety of horizontal initiatives and collaborative efforts involving other federal departments, provinces and territories, external organizations, and other stakeholders. An important accomplishment was the devolution of the Labour Market Development Agreement to Ontario, in keeping with the government's goal of transferring such agreements to provinces and territories. Efforts to improve Aboriginal labour market outcomes included working with partners to strengthen the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy in the areas of urban service delivery, labour market research, and private sector engagement. As well, agreements under the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers were signed with three provinces and one territory to help meet the needs of displaced older workers. All others who have indicated they will participate in this initiative signed the agreements in 2007-2008.

The Employment Insurance program provided Canadians with temporary income support while they were unemployed, or took a temporary absence from work for sickness, pregnancy, childbirth, or to care for a family member. To ensure the Employment Insurance program continues to support individual well-being and economic stability, various measures were undertaken, including the implementation of a pilot project that tests the labour market impacts of offering five additional weeks of regular benefits in regions of high unemployment, and an expansion of the eligibility for the Compassionate Care Benefit so more people can access it.

Workplace Skills

Through its workplace skills program activity Human Resources and Social Development Canada worked to improve Canada's economic competitiveness and enhance the competitiveness of Canadian workplaces. This work, undertaken in collaboration with numerous partners, focused on encouraging employers to invest in the skills development of their workers so they can adapt to evolving skills requirements. The Department took a number of actions to increase the pool of skills available to the Canadian labour market and promote effective participation of skilled workers. Efforts to help Canadian workplaces benefit from the skills possessed by internationally trained individuals and help these individuals integrate more successfully into the labour market included making investments pertaining to the recognition of foreign credentials. Work to increase access to apprenticeships in Red Seal trades and promote inter-provincial mobility included launching the application process for the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant. By year end, more than 4,900 applications had been received for the grant, which helps eligible apprentices registered in a Red Seal trade program cover expenses. The Department also made investments to help improve inter-provincial mobility within priority health occupations.

Learning

With lifelong learning becoming increasingly vital to individual well-being and Canada's productivity, competitiveness and prosperity, the learning program helped Canadians gain access to the learning they need to better participate in a knowledge-based society and economy. Departmental efforts supported the objective as outlined in the Government's economic plan Advantage Canada: Building a Strong Economy for Canadians of exploiting Canada's knowledge advantage to create the best-educated, most skilled and most flexible workforce in the world. The Department worked to make Canadians aware of the importance of lifelong learning and the need to save, plan and pay for post-secondary education; facilitated access to post-secondary education and adult learning opportunities; and worked with partners on the delivery of learning programs and services. The Department helped to make post-secondary learning opportunities accessible to thousands of Canadians through student loans and study grants, as well as access grants for groups that are under-represented in post-secondary education. Eligibility for Canada Student Loans was expanded by reducing the expected parental contribution, effective for the 2007-2008 academic year. Financial supports and incentives were also provided to encourage Canadians to save for post-secondary education, and more support was provided for education savings by low-income families. This support through an enhanced Canada Education Savings Grant and the Canada Learning Bond became widely available by the end of 2006-2007 once more financial institutions had signed agreements with the Department and upgraded their systems. The Department also implemented the Government's commitment to adult literacy through an integrated program, the Adult Learning Literacy and Essential Skills Program, in partnership with the provinces and territories.

Safe, healthy, fair, stable, cooperative, productive workplaces and effective international labour standards

Labour

Throughout the year, the Labour Program worked to ensure safe, healthy, fair, stable, cooperative and productive workplaces within the federal jurisdiction, administered labour related legislation governing federally regulated industries, fostered cooperation within the network of labour jurisdictions in Canada, and managed Canada's international labour affairs. This work cast its influence over a broad spectrum of labour issues: maintaining a fair balance in the relationship between employers and employees; creating competitive workplaces; supporting Canada's productivity and promoting international respect for labour rights. For example, mediation and conciliation assistance provided to employers and unions led to over 96 percent of collective bargaining disputes being settled without a work stoppage; a program was implemented to help ensure an adequate supply of labour negotiators and mediators in the future; and funding was provided to labour capacity-building programming in Canada's trading partners in the Americas. The final report Fairness at Work: Federal Labour Standards for the 21^st Century, by the independent Commissioner reviewing Part III (Labour Standards) of the Canada Labour Code was released. The Minister of Labour met with key stakeholders to obtain their views regarding the report's recommendations on modernizing labour standards in the federal jurisdiction. The Labour Program's efforts also contributed to numerous Government of Canada outcomes: a fair and secure marketplace; safe and secure communities; a safe and secure world through international cooperation; and a strong and mutually beneficial North American partnership.

Enhanced income security, access to opportunities and well-being for individuals, families and communities

The Department continued helping individuals, families, and communities achieve their potential in contributing to Canadian society and sharing in the opportunities society provides. Challenges require that the Department be flexible in finding the most effective ways to provide assistance. At times this involved providing direct assistance, such as the financial benefits paid to parents to help them choose the kind of care they want for their young children. Other approaches included working horizontally with other federal departments and orders of government; working with groups at the community level; tapping the capacity of non-profit organizations; or generating awareness about issues among the public at large. Some challenges, such as enhancing the income security of seniors, affect a broad segment of the population and involved providing pensions to millions of people; other challenges called for a more tailored approach to address particular circumstances, such as providing the assistance that helped more than 2,500 people with disabilities improve their employability. A new Homelessness Partnering Strategy that increases horizontality and partnerships was developed to improve access to the range of services and programs that homeless individuals and families need to move toward self-sufficiency. Working towards this strategic outcome also contributed to a number of Government of Canada outcomes, such as A Diverse Society that Promotes Linguistic Duality and Social Inclusion, Safe and Secure Communities, Income Security and Employment for Canadians, Strong Economic Growth and an Innovative and Knowledge Based Economy.

Social Investment

Under its Social Investment activity the Department administered Canada's national pension plans, which constitute important sources of secure income for seniors, who are the fastest growing age segment of Canada's population, and to people with disabilities who are often unable to earn adequate income from employment. As an illustration of how important such pensions are to seniors, the most recent figures available, for 2004, indicate that Old Age Security accounted for more than half of the total post-retirement income of low-income seniors and that Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan benefits accounted for more than 40% of the total post-retirement income for seniors.

Other efforts to help targeted groups improve their well-being and participation in communities included approving 775 new projects under the community based New Horizons for Seniors Program to provide funding to encourage seniors to share their knowledge and skills with others in their communities and reduce their social isolation. Also, investments were made in 99 projects under the Social Development Partnerships Program for early childhood development, children and families, official language minority communities and voluntary sector initiatives. As lead federal department on issues affecting people with disabilities, HRSDC administered a number of programs to help them improve their employability and well-being, including Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities, the Opportunities Fund, and the Disability Component of the Social Development Partnership Program.

Children and Families

Recognizing the priority that families place on child care and the diversity of challenges this presents to parents, the children and families program activity oversaw implementation of the new Universal Child Care Benefit, which provided financial assistance to help parents decide for themselves what form of child care best suits their circumstances. In the last month of 2006-2007, 1.5 million families with young children received the Universal Child Care Benefit. Budget 2007 announced $250 million for child care. Financial assistance and services were provided to low income families through the National Child Benefit, a partnership among federal, provincial and territorial governments, including a First Nations component. The National Child Benefit Supplement for low-income families was increased by approximately $185 per child. The federal government also provided substantial financial assistance through the Canada Social Transfer to support early childhood development by means of such Human Resources and Social Development Canada-managed federal, provincial and territorial initiatives as the Multilateral Framework on Early Learning and Child Care, and the Early Childhood Development Agreement.

Housing and Homelessness

People become homeless through a variety of circumstances, and the homeless population has many faces. The housing and homelessness program activity leads work in this area in collaboration with numerous partners and stakeholders. The Department invested in communities across Canada to help them develop the tools and a range of interventions to help homeless people move towards self-sufficiency. For example, approximately $175.5 million in National Homelessness Initiative funding helped 1,140 homelessness-related projects provide services in 121 communities. A new Homelessness Partnering Strategy that increases horizontally and partnerships was developed to improve access to the range of services and programs that homeless individuals and families need to move toward self-sufficiency. The new Strategy shifts the emphasis from remedial interventions to prevention and reduction of homelessness through transitional and supportive housing. The strategy relies on partnerships, improved collaboration, and better alignment of investments by the various partners to implement local solutions for local problems.

Achieve better outcomes for Canadians through service excellence

Service Canada continued to work towards the goal of providing high-quality, personalized, one-stop service for Canadians. To this end, new services were provided and existing ones were expanded, new points of services were opened, internet service was improved, efforts were made to improve stewardship of public funds, and partnerships with other federal departments and orders of government were strengthened. An important step included implementing client advisory groups that provided a unique perspective on the service needs and priorities of particular segments of clients, such as people with disabilities, and members of the voluntary sector. Access to service was improved through new points of service, as well as a new user-friendly internet website. The range of services delivered by Service Canada also continued to expand, for example, access to pleasure craft licences and the Universal Child Care Benefit, which, by helping parents decide for themselves the kind of care they want for their young children, embodies the government's principle of expanding choices for people. Improvements to existing services included expanding the number of locations providing passport application service to Canadians in smaller and remote communities that do not have a Passport Canada office. Efforts to cope with increased demand for telephone service included extending hours of service, and providing service on Saturday. Measures to ensure that the benefits Service Canada issues go to the right person, in the right amount, and for the purpose for which they were intended, included a continued emphasis to strengthen the integrity of the Social Insurance Number and become a safe and secure common identifier. Examples of work to expand and strengthen partnerships included providing new or expanded service on behalf of five federal departments, working collaboratively with the province of Alberta to streamline the application process for persons with disabilities, and managing the transfer of design and delivery responsibilities for Employment Insurance funded labour market programming to the province of Ontario.

Seamless, citizen-centred service

Through this program activity, service delivery is being transformed from a program focus, which required clients to navigate through an array of government programs to find the services they wanted; to a focus centred on client needs that provides integrated, personalized services available through a variety of service channels. Implementing a client community service strategy has enabled Service Canada to gain a better insight into the needs and priorities that are unique to specific segments of clients. Such insight helped to implement better service to persons with disabilities, such as an automated reading service that assists visually impaired users of the Service Canada internet site. Service Canada's presence grew through the introduction of 171 new points of service, several of which provide multilingual service, putting ninety-five percent of Canadians within 50 kilometres of a Service Canada point of service. Efforts to cope with a 22% increase in demand for telephone service, to a total of over 60 million calls, included extending hours of service, and providing call service on Saturday. Internet service was improved with the launching of a more user-friendly web-site that incorporates a client feedback capability, a voice feature that reads out content for clients, and increased availability of internet service to more than 99% of the time. More than 22 million visits were made to the Service Canada web site in 2006-2007. Accountability and transparency were strengthened through the publication of the first Service Canada annual report.

Integrity

Maintaining sound stewardship of public funds and generating savings included efforts to strengthen the integrity of the Social Insurance Number as a safe and secure common identifier. This included numerous Social Insurance Number investigations, providing assistance to individuals with a compromised Social Insurance Number, and helping Canadians to become aware of proper and improper uses of their Social Insurance Number and testing ways to improve the quality and integrity of Social Insurance Number issuance.

Savings were realized through a combination of measures, including program integrity strategies that helped to ensure benefit payments went only to those who were eligible and improvements to procurement practices for goods and services.

Collaborative, networked government service

Work under this program activity included increasing Service Canada's capacity to become a one-stop point of service for Canadians. To that end, activity focused on expanding relations with other departments and government organizations, efforts that resulted in an increased number of organizations for whom Service Canada delivers service, such as Transport Canada on whose behalf Service Canada issued more than 123,000 pleasure craft licences. Additional progress was made in expanding the use of automated processes, which saw the renewal of Employment Insurance claims through electronic means exceed 30%, and an additional 24,000 employers registering to provide Record of Employment information online. Measures were also undertaken to improve the process through which vital event information is provided to Service Canada by provincial and territorial government organizations which will help to ensure greater accuracy of identification information in the Social Insurance Registry which is crucial for the detection of fraud and abuse.

Departmental Scorecard for Program Indicators

NOTE TO READER: For 2006-2007 the number of indicators and the range of activities covered substantially increased in comparison to the number of indicators that existed in the two former departments prior to their merger. The 2006-2007 indicators were aligned with the new Department's Program Activity Architecture and Strategic Outcomes. The Scorecard that follows represents the first set of program performance indicators developed by Human Resources and Social Development Canada since the new Department was created.

In recognition of the need for greater rigour and focus on results, efforts were made to further refine the departmental Performance Measurement Framework. This led to a more concise and consistent set of indicators being proposed for 2007-2008. Work also began on the development of a plan to guide the further evolution of performance measurement with the goal to increase the Department's capability and readiness for measurement and reporting of performance leading to better strategic decision making and continuous performance improvement.

Program indicators are among several sources used for evaluating departmental performance. Program evaluations and audits and the Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report are also tools to provide a comprehensive understanding of performance.

The Scorecard displays results information for the Department's program performance indicators that were published in the 2006-2007 Report on Plans and Priorities. For indicators that have an established target, the Scorecard provides a rating in terms of whether expectations were met, mostly met, or not met. No rating is provided for indicators that do not have established targets. Brief comments are included for indicators where required. More detailed comments on indicator results are included in the section of the document that discusses performance by strategic outcome.

Table 2 Summary of Departmental Program Performance by Strategic Outcome

LEGEND
●Target met or exceeded	Target mostly met	○ Target not met	N/A Not applicable
Rating	Program indicators	2006-2007 Target	Results
Enhanced Canadian productivity and participation through efficient and inclusive labour markets, competitive workplaces and access to learning
Labour Market
Access
N/A	Percentage of unemployed targeted by the Employment Insurance program eligible to collect regular Employment Insurance benefits		2005 Result: 83.4%
N/A	Rate of participation of designated groups (self-identified) and older workers in Employment Benefits and Support Measures (EBSM)
		Rate of Participation in EBSM 2005-2006	Percentage of the entire unemployed labour force (2001 census)
	Women	50.0%	45.5%
	People with disabilities	4.6%	9.8%
	Aboriginal persons	7.2%	6.5%
	Visible minorities	6.8%	16.2%
	Older workers (55 and over)	6.5%	17.3%
Adequacy
N/A	Proportion of regular entitlement collected by Employment Insurance claimants (%)		(2004-2005) 59.8%
N/A	Proportion of Employment Insurance maternity/parental entitlement collected by Employment Insurance claimants		Result: (2004-2005) 93.5%
Labour market efficiency
●	Number of youth clients who return to school or become employed following an employment program intervention under the Youth Employment Strategy and proportion of these clients in the total number of action plans closed	7,400	8,539 Proportion: 65.29%
Comments: These targets do not include returns to school following participation in the Summer Career Placements initiative under Summer Work Experience
●	Number of Aboriginal clients who return to school or become employed following an employment program intervention under the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy and proportion of these clients in the total number of action plans closed	20,500	23,230 Proportion: 54.17%
●	Number of clients employed or self-employed following an employment program intervention, and proportion of these clients in the total number of action plans closed	220,000	226,453 Proportion: 59.15
Workplace skills
N/A	Number of apprentices that received the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant	New Measure	Service Canada received more than 4,900 applications for the Grant as of March 31st, 2007
●	Increase in the number of trades people who are fully mobile in Canada through Red Seal endorsement	15,000	20,386 (2006)
Comments: Red Seal statistics are reported annually, based on the January to December time period.
●	Number of tools and processes completed to be used in verifying and recognizing foreign credentials and work experience of foreign-trained professionals	85	89 (April 2004 — March 2007)
Learning
N/A	3-year loan default rate (direct loans only for 2006-2007)	26%	On track to meet targeted 3-year result (actual available in 2009-2010)
●	Number of Canadians who have ever received a Canada Education Savings Grant and who are attending postsecondary education in the current fiscal year	192,000	190,000 (calendar year)
●	Percentage of Canadians under 18 years of age who have ever received a Canada Education Savings Grant	34%	34%
○	Percentage of children eligible for the Canada Learning Bond who have a Registered Education Savings Plan	22%	8%
Comments: Widespread availability was delayed until July 2006 when a significant number of financial institutions became ready to offer the new Canada Learning Bond.
Service indicators
●	Client satisfaction with the overall quality of services provided by the Canada Student Loans Program	76%	75%
●	Client (Registered Education Savings Plan providers) satisfaction with the overall quality of services provided by the Canada Education Savings Program	88%	92%
Safe, healthy, fair, stable, cooperative, productive workplaces and effective international labour standards
Labour
●	Percentage of collective bargaining disputes settled under Part I (Industrial Relations) of the Canada Labour Code without work stoppages	90%	96.9%
●	Percentage of unjust dismissal complaints settled by inspectors (Part III of the Canada Labour Code)	75%	74%
●	Disabling injury incidence rate (DIIR) measuring the change in the rate of lost time injuries, illnesses and fatalities within federal jurisdiction industries from year to year	10% reduction over 5 years from 2001 to 2005	All industries reduced by 11.0% High priority industries reduced by 20.2%
●	Percentage of money collected in relation to the amount found to be owed for complaints under Part III (Labour Standards) of the Canada Labour Code (excluding unjust dismissal complaints)	75%	74%
Service indicator
●	Client satisfaction with the quality of Workplace Information Directorate data	80%	96.4% rated as good, very good and excellent
Enhanced income security, access to opportunities and well-being for individuals, families and communities
Social Investment
N/A	Proportion of CPP contributors who have contributory coverage/eligibility for CPP Disability	New measure	67% (males) 62%(females)
N/A	Number of CPP Disability recipients who report a return to work and leave benefits - proportion of this group of clients who have remained off benefits for six months or more	New measure	2,107
N/A	Number of partnerships concluded that provide the public with knowledge of the OAS/CPP programs	New measure	Results not available (indicator being pilot tested)
Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities (LMAPD)
	Number of participants in programs/services under the LMAPD	199,812	Results not available
	Number and percentage of participants completing a program or service through LMAPD programming, where there is a specific start and end point to the intervention, by province	76,311 (38%)	Results not available
	Number and percentage of participants who obtained or were maintained in employment through LMAPD programming, where the program or service supports the activity	43,680 (22%)	Results not available
Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities
	Number of clients served	5,539	4,923
●	Number and percentage of clients who obtained employment	1,711 (31%)	1,757 (36%)
●	Number and percentage of clients with enhanced employability	2,198 (40%)	2,642 (54%)
	Number and percentage of clients who sought further skills upgrading (returned to school)	242 (4%)	223 (4.5%)
Social Development Partnerships Program
N/A	Knowledge is created and disseminated to meet the social development needs of citizens	New measure	yes
Understanding the Early Years Initiative
N/A	Number of communities that apply through the Call For Proposals process during each year	New measure	33 communities applied for funding
New Horizons for Seniors Program
N/A	Number of seniors leading and or involved in funded project activities within the community	New measure	106,745 (estimate)
Social Development Partnerships Program Office for Disability Issues
●	Number of proposals (from contribution agreements) funded	46	61
Children and families
N/A	Incidence of low income - the change in the number and percentage of families and 2006-2007 Departmental Performance Report children that fall below the post-tax Low Income Cut-off, due to the National Child Benefit, in one year	Actual data to be reported	In 2003, 60,500 families with 159,000 children were prevented from living in low income due to the National Child Benefit, a reduction of 12.4% in families with low income with children
Comments: Most recent analysis is year 2003
N/A	Depth of low income - the change in the aggregate amount of income that low-income families would need to reach the post-tax Low Income Cut-Off, due to the National Child Benefit, in one year	Actual data to be reported	In 2003, National Child Benefit reduced depth of low income, low income gap for families with children who received National Childcare Supplement by a total of $610 million.
	Number of children under six years of age for whom their parents are receiving the Universal Child Care Benefit	95% of all children under six years of age.	95%
Housing and Homelessness
●	Percentage of investments directed toward the continuum of supports and services based on priorities established by the community	At least 75% invested in community priorities	100%
●	Ratio of total National Homelessness Initiative investments versus funding by type of partners for each province and territory 2003-2007	1 to 1.5	1% to 1.89
●	Increase in accessible sources of information/data on homelessness	Evidence of uptake of data/information	yes
Comments: The National Homelessness Initiative website received an average of 1,593 "visits" per day from 2006-2007, showing an ongoing uptake of information on homelessness.
Achieve better outcomes for Canadians through service excellence
Service Indicators
●	Increase in number of Service Canada points of service (from 320 in March 2005)	533	587
●	24/7 availability of Internet - information and transaction (compared to March 2005 where only information was accessible online)	95%	99.3%
○	Percentage of calls answered by an agent within 180 seconds	95%	58.5%
Comments: A number of changes were made to address the service challenges posed by summer and winter peak periods.
	Extend hours of service in Service Canada Centres (from 0 in March 2005)	60	53
●	Percentage of availability of Interactive Voice Response System	95%	98%
N/A	Maintain or reduce number of official language complaints	Actual results to be reported	23
●	Establish Official Language Minority Community Groups points of service (from 0 in March 2005)	17	33
●	Offer service in languages other than English or French (from 0 in March 2005)	10	19
●	Provide forms online in formats accessible for people with disabilities	10	11
○	Percentage of notifications sent within seven days of receipt of applications	80%	65.6%
Comments: Results will improve with automation of claims.
●	Percentage of Employment Insurance payments issued within 28 days of filing	80%	79.7%
	Percentage of passports delivered by Passport Canada within 20 working days of receiving the application from Service Canada, excluding mailing time	90%	Accountability rests with Passport Canada to report on results
Comments: Memorandum of Understanding between Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Passport Canada was signed where there was an agreement to measure the "effectiveness of the Passport Receiving Agents (Service Canada)". Indicators were developed to measure critical and non-critical errors committed by Service Canada as a receiving agent.
●	Percentage of Canada Pension Plan retirement first payment within the month of entitlement	85%	92.8%
●	Percentage of Old Age Security first payments issued within 30 days of entitlement	90%	94.1%
	Percentage of pleasure craft licences issued in one visit (service not offered in March 2005)	90%	80%
○	Percentage of Social Insurance Numbers issued in one visit (service not offered in March 2005)	90%	67%
Comments:Results for this new service showed a steady increase throughout the fiscal year from a base of 0.
N/A	Maintain or increase client satisfaction	Actual results to be reported	Results not available (survey not conducted)

Human Resources and Official Languages Indicators

The Department has worked throughout the year to develop and implement initiatives aimed at achieving the objectives of the government's 2003-2008 Action Plan for Official Languages and its Horizontal Results-Based Management and Accountability Framework. For example, under the literacy initiative, teaching materials for trainers and learners were distributed in Canada's Official Language Minority Communities and efforts to increase awareness about the importance of family literacy among target clients and within these communities were undertaken. Other accomplishments include the establishment of a formal coordinators' network to strengthen collaboration between official language minority communities and departmental officials; development of promotional tools for training and information sessions to departmental employees, and participation in external workshops, meetings and conferences.

Human Resources and Social Development Canada initiated work on a departmental framework on gender and diversity. Training sessions were organised to help ensure that gender and diversity considerations are fully integrated in the Department's policies and programs and provide departmental employees with concrete tools to apply gender and diversity analysis in their work.

The Department participated in the Canadian delegation for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 50th session and in collaboration with Heritage Canada, two information sessions on the Canadian Multiculturalism Act were recently organised for departmental employees.

Departmental Corporate Management

Human Resources and Official Languages Indicators
Legend
●Target met or exceeded	Target mostly met	○ Target not met	N/A Not applicable
Employment Equity
	Representation of visible minority persons	9.4%	9.0%
●	Representation of Aboriginal persons	3.0%	4.1%
●	Representation of people with disabilities	3.6%	8.1%
●	Representation of women	60.1%	70.8%
Comments: These results are the designated group representation percentages that will be reported in the 2006-07 Employment Equity Annual Report.
Official language complaints
N/A	Language of work	Actual results to be reported	2
N/A	Service to the public	Actual results to be reported	5
Comments:These do not include Service Canada.

Management Priorities

Human Resources and Social Development Canada has focused on strengthening the auditing and accountability functions within the Department and on participating in the review by the Blue Ribbon Panel on Grants and Contributions.

Other priorities for the planning period include work on performance indicators to strengthen accountability and a sustained focus on governance, financial stewardship and human resources management.

Corporate Risk

Over the past fiscal year, the Department continued to strengthen the practice of risk management to effectively manage ongoing strategic and operational risks in delivering programs and services. The Department faced three corporate risks in achieving its objectives and commitments for 2006-2007. A summary of the key risks and associated strategies implemented are outlined below. The three key risks are:

• building relationships with external partners and stakeholders
• recruiting and retaining competent and skilled people
• exercising appropriate governance and oversight

Building relationships with our external partners and stakeholders

At risk is the ability to engage in and build the right relationships with external partners and stakeholders to ensure timely progress in the social and economic agenda and delivery on commitments.

An important component of the work conducted by the Department involves consultation and collaboration with the public and private sectors. In 2006-2007, increased focus was placed on revitalizing relationships with partners and stakeholders. The planned results were met. A new Intergovernmental Relations Directorate was created and provides a focal point for the conduct of federal, provincial, territorial and international relations to advance federal objectives across the portfolio. Emphasis was also placed on supporting bilateral ministerial consultations with provincial and territorial governments, as well as roundtables with major post-secondary education stakeholders including businesses, students, faculty, colleges and universities.

In addition, an engagement strategy was implemented which enables on-line consultations and roundtables, participation in public activities to engage academics and experts, on-going emphasis on partnerships and collaboration with communities and stakeholders, and monitoring of media and stakeholder perspectives.

To better serve citizens, Service Canada collaborated with a number of other government departments to help reach more Canadians, such as, delivering the Canadian Agricultural Skills Service Program on behalf of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, receiving passport applications on behalf of Passport Canada and issuing pleasure craft licensing on behalf of Transport Canada.

Recruiting and retaining competent and skilled people

At risk is the capacity to attract competent and skilled people, and retain and develop them, which may hinder the ability to deliver on commitments and to exercise due diligence.

The Department recognized the importance of ensuring the development of a strong organization, with a skilled staff and a representative workforce. In support of this, Human Resources and Social Development Canada held learning initiatives to support strong linkages and to promote leadership and open communication. Development programs for several specialized professional communities are under development and action learning group pilots were also established. Human Resources and Social Development Canada continues to reinforce values and ethics as the basis of action with a view to promoting a healthy, supportive and respectful working environment.

In support of the re-integration of the departments, an action plan was developed and implemented in 2006-2007. In addition, an Agenda for Excellence, focusing on People, Partnerships and Knowledge, was developed to further integration objectives and to serve as a roadmap for the new Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

To ensure that staff are trained and equipped to provide quality service to Canadians, the newly launched Service Canada College provided training, development and accreditation of staff in service excellence.

Exercising appropriate governance and oversight

At risk is the ability to exercise appropriate governance and oversight on the stewardship of resources and the state of internal controls within an environment of major organizational changes and evolving accountability relationships.

Human Resources and Social Development Canada strengthened coordination between policy and program design and delivery through regular senior level meetings to ensure a strategic and corporate approach to management, policy program design and service delivery issues. A Corporate Secretariat was established with the mandate to consolidate ministerial and corporate executive support and to facilitate information sharing across the portfolio.

The Department supported the Government-wide response to the Report of the Blue Ribbon Panel and efforts to review and streamline the administration of federal government grants and contributions and created a Grants and Contributions Centre of Excellence in Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

The Department developed a forecasting guideline package and portfolio-wide briefings of the Human Resources and Social Development Canada resource situation. The Department initiated work for long-term capital planning with the identification of business requirements for major technology projects and building institutional capacity to establish a corporate investment process. In addition to these activities, a risk-based internal audit plan was also developed.

Section II Performance Discussion by Strategic Outcome

Policies and Programs That Meet the Human Capital and Social Development Needs of Canadians

Program Activity:
Policy, Research and Communications

During the year Human Resources and Social Development Canada provided strategic policy, research, and communication expertise in support of the government's efforts to improve the standard of living and quality of life of Canadians, and promote their social well-being and security. A major focus of this work was supporting the government's commitments contained in the 2006 Budget and economic and fiscal update, including supporting the principle of creating new opportunities and choices for people that was announced in Advantage Canada: Building a Strong Economy for Canadians.

For more details on programs supporting this activity, please see Section IV - Other Items of Interest

Enhanced Canadian Productivity and Participation Through Efficient and Inclusive Labour Markets, Competitive Workplace and Access to Learning

During 2006-2007, Human Resources and Social Development Canada worked on a number of broad fronts-supporting labour market efficiency and inclusiveness, enhancing the competitiveness of workplaces, and helping Canadians gain access to learning opportunities-toward the common goal of supporting Canada's continuing prosperity through enhanced productivity and participation. The Department's labour market, workplace skills, and learning programs complemented each other in working towards creating the best educated, most skilled and flexible labour force, and in contributing to a number of broad Government of Canada outcomes: strong economic growth, an innovative and knowledge-based economy, income security and employment for Canadians, and a fair and secure marketplace. Departmental efforts under this strategic outcome and its major program activities were consistent with the principle of creating new opportunities and choices for people that is outlined in the Government's economic plan: Advantage Canada: Building a Strong Economy for Canadians.

Program activity: Labour Market

Canada has a well educated, highly skilled and mobile workforce, which has contributed to one of the most flexible and adaptable labour markets among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Canada's performance has remained strong even though the face of the labour market has changed significantly over the past two decades. To date, the economy has shown resilience in its ability to cope with the ongoing changes.

New challenges have begun to emerge including growing labour shortages in some regions and sectors, as well as demographic challenges as the population ages.

The Department has two major program activities that assist Canadians with income support and in finding and retaining employment in support of this Strategic Outcome.

The Employment Insurance program promotes individual well being, economic stability and a flexible labour market by providing temporary income support to unemployed workers who qualify under Part I of the Employment Insurance Act. The program encompasses a wide range of benefits to address the needs of workers and the labour market.

Employment Programs enable Canadians, including unemployed adults and targeted groups, such as youth, Aboriginal Peoples and older workers, to develop their skills and encourage them to invest in themselves and become self-reliant. These programs and services are funded under the Consolidated Revenue Fund and Part II of the Employment Insurance Act.

The Department recognizes the importance of working in partnership with other federal departments and in particular with agencies, external organizations, unions, Aboriginal organizations, the voluntary sector and provinces and territories to successfully fulfill its mandate and meet the needs of unemployed Canadians.

Our employment programming is delivered through four major Department-led horizontal initiatives: Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy; Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership program; Youth Employment Strategy; Targeted Initiative for Older Workers, and Labour Market Development Agreements. In addition to these activities, the Department helps to sustain the vitality of Official Language Minority Communities through the Enabling Fund, which enhances human resources development, increases employability and community capacity building for the official language minority communities. Details on the above-noted horizontal initiatives can be found at:
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rma/eppi-ibdrp/hrdb-rhbd/dep-min/HRSDC-RHDSC/hrsdc-rhdsc_e.asp

Key accomplishments for 2006-07 include:

• Devolution of the Labour Market Development Agreement to Ontario on January 1, 2007 with required sub-agreements and systems. This devolution is consistent with the overall government direction of negotiating the transfer of Labour Market Development Agreements to all provinces per Budget 2007.
• Worked closely with other federal departments, National Aboriginal Organizations and other stakeholders to strengthen Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy in key areas of urban service delivery, private sector engagement, and labour market research.
• Developed draft Self-Government Labour Market Development Agreement in implementing the Yukon First Nation self-government agreement.
• Throughout the 2006-07 timeframe, agreements for the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers were signed with Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Yukon. Agreements with all other provinces and territories that have indicated they will participate in the initiative were signed during 2007-08.

The delivery of the Employment Programs is primarily done through Service Canada and their role is crucial in the successful implementation of programs and delivery of services to Canadians. The design and delivery of services is done with a citizen-centred perspective. All of the employment programs are focused in this way and programs and services continue to be tailored to be relevant and comprehensive for Canadians.

There were a number of summative and formative evaluations either launched or completed in 2006-2007 related to Employment Insurance and Employment Programs. All evaluations assist the Department in ensuring that the programs remain responsive to the needs of Canadians requiring income support and/or seeking assistance in getting back to work. Evaluations undertaken in 2006-2007 include:

Evaluations launched:

• Summative Evaluation of the Youth Employment Strategy.
• Summative Evaluation of Employment Insurance 5-week Seasonal Work Pilot.
• Formative/Summative Evaluation of the New-Entrant/Re-entrant component of EI Part I.
• Formative Evaluation of Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnerships.
• Formative and Summative evaluation of the Voisey's Bay project.
• Formative Evaluation of the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Agreements Formative Evaluation of the Manitoba Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities.

Evaluations completed:

• Support for Monitoring and Assessment Report - Over ten evaluative studies focussing on Employment Insurance Part I completed for the 2006 Monitoring and Assessment Report.
• Formative Evaluation of Employment Insurance Compassionate Care Benefits (results will be made available in fall 2007).
• Summative Evaluation of Employment Insurance Part I.

Other on-going evaluation activities:

• Employment Programs - Summative evaluations of Employment Benefit and Support Measures are currently underway in several jurisdictions. Key findings from the British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador summative evaluations are discussed in the 2006 Monitoring and Assessment Report. Other summative evaluations are currently underway and where available, findings will be presented in the 2007 Monitoring and Assessment Report.
• Audit and Evaluation Committee approved Action Plan to address recommendations in 2005 Formative Evaluation of the Youth Employment Strategy the 2005 Summative Evaluation of Employment Benefits and Support Measures Delivered Under the Canada/Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Market Development Agreement and the 2005 Formative and Summative Evaluation of Nunavut Benefits and Measures Delivered under the Canada-Nunavut Labour Market Development Agreement.
• On-going collaborative work for the Evaluation of Federal Action Plan for Official Languages.
• Launched of the Formative Evaluation of Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities.

For more details on programs supporting this activity, please see Section IV - Other Items of Interest.

Program Activity: Workplace Skills

Workplace Skills aims to improve Canadian economic competitiveness by fostering innovative, productive and inclusive workplaces, where workers are encouraged and supported to develop and use their knowledge, skills and abilities.

This program area promotes and encourages employers across the country to invest in the skills development of their workers based on partnerships between the federal government, provinces and territories, and stakeholders. Canada's success, and the success of individual Canadians, relies on our economic productivity. In addition, our productivity, in turn, is increasingly dependent on skills and learning.

A key component of strengthening Canada´s productivity and improving quality of life involves enhancing the competitiveness of Canadian workplaces. Skilled workers contribute to this competitiveness and help drive improvements in workplace productivity through their abilities to process information, perform tasks more efficiently and effectively, and adapt to and operate new technology. They are also more skilled at generating innovations resulting in new or improved information, products, services, and production and distribution processes. Human Resources and Social Development Canada´s work pertaining to the Workplace Skills activity supported the Government of Canada´s Outcome Area of an innovative and knowledge-based economy.

The Department, in collaboration with partners including sector councils, professional regulatory bodies, employers, unions, and provincial and territorial governments, promotes workplace-related learning and skills development and recognition that reflect the realities of the changing labour market.

Service Canada delivers the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant, Temporary Foreign Worker Program, and Labour Market Information.

Main accomplishments for 2006-2007 include the following:

• The Apprenticeship Incentive Grant application process and website were launched on January 1, 2007. As of the end of March 2007, more than 4,900 applications had been received for the grant.
• The Foreign Credential Referral Office task force received approval for the design of the Office, facilitated implementation of initial operations and undertook consultations and research in support of the development of the Office.
• The Foreign Credential Recognition Program made investments towards addressing Foreign Credential Recognition issues and expanded its scope to additional occupations and sectors such as Respiratory Therapists and the Biotechnology sector.
• Investments were made towards addressing Labour Mobility issues within priority health occupations such as Medical Laboratory Technologists, Registered Nurses and Audiologists.

Each year, Evaluations are conducted to assist the Department in ensuring that its programs and services remain responsive to the needs of Canadians. In 2006-2007, there was an evaluation pertaining to the Foreign Credential Recognition Program

Foreign Credential Recognition Program:

• A formative evaluation of the Foreign Credential Recognition Program that was completed in 2006-2007 made six recommendations to Management, all of which have either been addressed or are currently being addressed. The recommendations addressed issues such as improving the performance measurement strategy and the sharing of project results. The formative evaluation and the management response can be viewed at the following websites, respectively:
  http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/publications_resources/evaluation/2007/sp_ah_687_02_07/page05.shtml
  http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/publications_resources/evaluation/2007/sp_ah_687_02_07/page03.shtml .
• The Evaluation report concluded that the Foreign Credential Recognition Program is progressing well towards accomplishing its objectives and outcomes.

For more details relating to programs supporting this activity, please see Section IV – Other Items of Interest

Program Activity: Learning

Lifelong learning is vital to the well-being of individual Canadians as well as the productivity, competitiveness and prosperity of Canada. As announced on November 23, 2006, Canada's economic plan, Advantage Canada, is designed to make Canada a world leader for today and future generations. It will build a strong Canadian economy and make our quality of life second to none through competitive economic advantage. The Knowledge Advantage component of this plan identifies "creating the best-educated, most skilled and most flexible workforce in the world", as one of the five key areas of focus to gain a global competitive advantage. In recent years the knowledge-based economy has increasingly been creating jobs that require a higher level of education and skills. The Canadian Post-secondary Education: A Positive Record - An Uncertain Future report states that, by 2013, "Two-thirds (66%) of new non-student jobs will demand post-secondary education or be in the management group"¹.

This report further elaborates that "research shows that higher education and training are strongly linked to safe communities, a healthy population and sustainable environment. Other benefits of an educated population include a greater appreciation of diversity, resulting in a stronger social cohesion".

This report also cites a Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation study (2004) that identifies the impact on Canada's economy of investing in post-secondary education. For example, university graduates represent 16.1% of the population, provide 33% of income tax paid and consume 9.1% of government transfers, such as employment insurance or social assistance. A similar percentage of the population (19.2%) that have less than high school provide much less (8.8%) of income tax paid, and consume considerably more (35.1%) of government transfers. This suggests that a greater investment in post-secondary education could yield a substantial benefit to the economy with more income tax paid and less government transfers.

Human Resources and Social Development assists Canadians in accessing the learning opportunities they need to increase their skill levels and participate more fully in a knowledge-based economy and society. The Department fosters a culture of lifelong learning by:

• promoting awareness of the importance of lifelong learning and the need to save, plan and pay for post-secondary education;
• facilitating access for students to post-secondary education and adult learning opportunities;
• collaborating with provincial and territorial governments and other key stakeholders on the delivery of learning programs and services; and
• researching and disseminating information on the benefits of learning for individuals and society

As part of its mandate, the Department works with Service Canada, provincial and territorial governments, foundations, universities, financial institutions and other key stakeholders. The Department also manages Horizontal Initiatives, including the Canada Student Loans Program². At the beginning of 2006-2007 the Department had agreements with four foundations.³ Three of these foundations - the Canadian Council on Learning, the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation and the Peter Gzowski Foundation for Literacy received one-time funding in prior years, while the Winnipeg Foundation has received cost-matched funding on an annual basis ending September 30, 2006. The funding agreement with the Read to Me! Foundation also ended on September 30, 2006. The funding agreements for the latter two foundations ended due to the expiry of the terms and conditions of the National Literacy Program and the approval by Treasury Board Secretariat of new terms and conditions for the Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program.

The Learning program activity manages relations between the various participating organizations, develops policies and guidelines to ensure the relevance and effectiveness of its programs, works to strengthen partnerships with provincial and territorial governments and stakeholders and introduces changes that contribute to streamlining the delivery of the programs. Many of these changes originate from budget announcements and recommendations from evaluations and the Office of the Auditor General reports. Human Resources and Social Development Canada also works with Service Canada in managing and continuously improving program delivery. This partnership, which primarily focuses on the provision of technical support in the areas of human resources, communication, systems and call centres, enables the delivery of the Learning Branch's programs.

The largest program of the Learning Program Activity is the Canada Student Loans Program which helps to lower financial barriers for those with a demonstrated financial need. In 2006-2007 approximately 461,500 borrowers benefited from the Canada Student Loans Program. Approximately 49,600 Canada Study Grants and 39,000 Canada Access Grants were awarded to students to increase the participation of under-represented groups in post-secondary education.

In order to ensure the financial integrity of programs, the Canada Student Loans Program worked with its partners, an external audit firm, Integrated Provinces and Service Canada to deliver 30 audit reports for the year ending March 31, 2007. These reports were part of annual audits of the two Service Providers and they serve to provide assurance on the financial statements of the Program, as well as compliance with the Integration Agreements between the Federal Government and the four Integrated Provinces. Results of the audits were very positive.

The 2007 Report on Federal Loans and Grants for Post-Secondary Education by the Office of the Auditor General found that the Canada Student Loans Program is generally well managed. It noted that "The Department has the necessary controls in place for disbursing loans and grants; it also obtains reasonable assurance that its partners in delivering the Program are fulfilling their responsibilities". However, the report noted that a clear strategy for measuring improved access to post-secondary education was needed. While developing national-level indicators is a challenge as not all provinces have the same availability of data, the Department is committed to developing a performance measurement framework to address this. The report also found that the Department is taking steps to make prospective post-secondary students and their families more aware of the financial assistance available to them. As an example of this, the Canada Student Loans Program ran year two of the Pan-Canadian Communications Campaign from September 2006 until March 2007. Advertisements ran federally in national magazines and on-line parenting websites. Participating provinces and territory also ran advertisements in newspapers, radio, billboards and cable television.

Students can also receive funding from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. The objectives of the Foundation are to improve access to post-secondary education for all Canadians, especially those facing economic or social barriers; to encourage a high level of student achievement and engagement in Canadian society; and to build a national alliance of organizations and individuals around a shared post-secondary agenda. The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation distributes $325 million in the form of bursaries and scholarships each year. Since 2000, the Foundation has delivered more than half a million bursaries and scholarships worth more than $1.5 billion to students across Canada. The Office of the Auditor General 2007 Report on Federal Loans and Grants for Post-Secondary Education found that the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation's bursary programs are well managed and that the Foundation has the necessary controls in place to ensure that eligibility for bursaries is assessed correctly and that payments are issued in the right amounts to the right people.

The Learning program activity continued to provide supports and incentives for Canadians to encourage savings for post-secondary education through the Canada Education Savings Program. In 2006-2007, the Department finalized the implementation of the Canada Learning Bond and changes to savings match rates following the recommendations of the formative evaluation completed in April 2003 and the Government's commitment to provide more support for education savings for low-income families. The Learning program activity has enabled Canadians to access opportunities in support of lifelong learning by providing education savings incentives through partnerships with Registered Education Savings Plan providers. Furthermore, the Department undertook various activities to increase awareness and uptake of the Canada Education Savings Program through community outreach activities and events across the country delivered through Service Canada. A second formative evaluation, that was originally scheduled for 2006-2007 will be conducted in 2007-2008 in order to have sufficient data on the Program changes to complete the evaluation. The overall objectives of this evaluation will be to provide information on the design, delivery and early impacts of the changes to the program implemented since 2005.

As a result of the Canada Education Savings Program, families have been saving more for their children's post-secondary education at a younger age. Since 1998, the average age at which children receive their first Canada Education Savings Grant has dropped from 8 years old to 4.3 years old in 2006. During that same time frame, there has been a dramatic increase in Registered Education Savings Plan savings from $4 billion in 1998 to $22 billion in 2006.

The Department implemented the Government's commitment to adult literacy through an integrated program, the Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program. The Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program was created through the integration of the National Literacy Program, the Office of Learning Technologies and the Learning Initiatives Program in April 2006. The Effective Spending Measures, announced on September 25, 2006 re-targeted federal investments to achieve concrete results and measurable outcomes for adult Canadians who want the opportunity to improve their learning and literacy skills. In 2006-2007, the Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program supported 166 projects focussed in four strategic activity clusters including knowledge generation, capacity-building, innovation and demonstration projects, and promotion and public awareness. In addition, the Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program provided support to 16 provincial or territorial literacy coalitions and 7 national literacy organizations. Results of an interim evaluation of the National Literacy Program and of phase 1 of a summative evaluation of the Office of Learning Technologies completed in 2007 will be used to support results-based management and accountability of the Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program.

In 2006-2007, key accomplishments included:

• Ensured continuity of the delivery of the student loans program by completing the Canada Student Loan Program Service Provider Re-procurement process and initiated transition to new Service Provider, which will result in improved service to borrowers and substantial savings in program administration.
• Launched new communication plan for 2006-2008 to promote planning and saving for education and to increase uptake of the Canada Education Savings Program.
• Achieved the targeted Canada Education Savings Grant uptake of 34%.
• Achieved 92% client satisfaction rate from Registered Education Savings Plan promoters of the Canada Education Savings Program services, an increase from the 2004 survey.

For more details relating to programs supporting these activities, please see Section IV - Other Items of Interest.

Safe, Healthy, Fair, Stable, Cooperative, Productive Workplaces and Effective International Labour Standards

Program Activity: Labour

Labour laws and standards are critical to the successful functioning of private and public sector organizations, and equally important to the personal and family lives of the vast numbers of individuals who go to work every day. Labour law and policy define and structure the relationship between employers and employees. Employees may deal with employers as individuals or organized into legally recognized unions. Labour law and policy also deal with the basic work environment, ensuring it is safe, healthy and productive and maintains a fair balance of employer and employee rights and responsibilities.

The Labour Program's federal mandate reaches an estimated 46,000 Canadian workplaces and up to 1,132 million employees (approximately 8.5% of Canadian workers), is legislative in nature and is limited to the industries that fall under the jurisdiction of Parliament for labour matters. The federal labour jurisdiction comprises sectors of key importance to the Canadian economic infrastructure including transportation, communications and banking, as well as federal Crown Corporations and industries declared by Parliament to be for the general advantage of Canada, such as grain handling and uranium mining.

The Labour Program serves the Canadian public and supports departmental objectives by fostering cooperation, coordination and knowledge sharing among Canadian governments and partners (workers' and employers' organizations) on labour issues. By providing dispute resolution and dispute prevention assistance to trade unions and employers under federal jurisdiction, the Labour Program helps to foster constructive and harmonious labour-management relations and contributes to cooperative and productive workplaces throughout Canada.

Labour legislation sets out minimum labour standards; strives to prevent accidents and injury to health in the course of employment through enforcement of occupational health and safety protections; ensures the protection, conservation and minimization of risks to life and property due to fire; and works to remove barriers in the labour market. The Program also seeks to ensure equitable employment opportunity for all Canadians and provide compensation benefits to employees of federal departments, agencies and Crown Corporations for employment-related injuries and illnesses.

The Program conducts and disseminates research and information on national and international labour laws and labour matters. It promotes internationally-recognized core labour standards that protect workers in Canada and abroad and negotiates and manages international labour cooperation agreements that support Canada's trade agenda and, consequently, Canadian businesses and prosperity.

Key 2006-2007 accomplishments include:

• 96.9% of collective bargaining disputes were settled without a work stoppage.
• The number of days not worked due to labour disputes in 2006-2007 represented less than half of one per cent (0.04%) of the total available work time in the federal private sector.
• The Minister of Labour introduced and Parliament passed emergency back-to-work legislation to ensure the continuation of rail services at the Canadian National Railway Company after the union membership rejected a tentative settlement reached with the assistance of the Chief Mediator.
• The development of new Pay Equity Program activities were announced, including education, promotion, specialized mediation services and monitoring to help build fair workplaces where men and women working in the same establishment are paid the same for doing work of equal value.
• The Minister of Labour tabled, in Parliament, the Annual Report - Employment Equity Act 2005 on June 15, 2006. In total, 520 employment equity reports submitted by federally-regulated private sector employers were validated and consolidated in the summer of 2006. Tools to assist employers in the fulfillment of their reporting obligations (e.g., variance tool, narrative report template) were developed and distributed.
• The Minister of Labour hosted a major roundtable drawing together leading employers, unions and academics to examine the contribution of good workplace practices related to economic productivity.
• Federal, provincial and territorial Ministers responsible for Labour adopted a joint statement affirming their commitment to the effective integration of occupational health and safety concepts and competencies into education and training, including, where appropriate, through elementary, secondary and post-secondary education systems.
• The effectiveness of Canada's international labour agreements increased with Quebec formally agreeing to accept, in its jurisdiction, the obligations of the Canada-Chile and Canada-Costa Rica agreements, bringing another 23% of the Canadian labour force under the auspices of these agreements.
• The Minister of Labour received a major report from the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission on modernizing Part III of the Canada Labour Code and responded to it by meeting with stakeholders to obtain their views, identifying priorities for administrative change, and launching development work on potential options for legislative change.
• The Minister of Labour supported the implementation of a new Wage Earner Protection Program, which would protect workers from loss of wages in the event of their employer's bankruptcy, by drafting and proposing technical amendments to the Wage Earner Protection Program Act to ensure that it operates fairly and effectively, and by developing the necessary regulations and program design.
• The International Trade and Labour grants and contributions program funded over $1 million in labour capacity-building programming, mainly in Canada's current and future trading partners in the Americas. Key project themes included preventing child labour in Central America, migrant worker outreach in the Caribbean, harmonizing labour legislation in the Caribbean, strengthening occupational health and safety in Central America, Belize, and the Dominican Republic, and supporting the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour.
• Canada hosted a major conference on migrant workers' rights and temporary workers' programs, under the auspices of the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour, with nearly 30 countries participating.
• Negotiations towards new international labour agreements advanced, particularly with Korea and Singapore.
• The revised Operations Program Directive (OPD) governing the investigation of refusals to work under the Canada Labour Code, Part II, and the guidelines that interpret key terms in connection with these investigations, such as "danger" and "normal condition of employment", took effect on March 7, 2007. The purpose of these revisions was to assist in the interpretation of the definition of danger, clarify the interpretation of normal condition of employment and ensure consistent application on the basis of the recent case law.

For more details on programs supporting this activity, please see Section IV - Other Items of Interest

Enhanced Income Security, Access to Opportunities and Well-Being for Individuals, Families and Communities

The Department continued helping individuals, families, and communities achieve their potential in contributing to Canadian society and sharing in the opportunities society provides. Challenges require that the Department be flexible in finding the most effective ways to provide assistance. At times, this involved providing direct assistance, such as the financial benefits paid to parents to help them choose the kind of care they want for their young children. Other approaches included working horizontally with other federal departments and orders of government; working with groups at the community level; tapping the capacity of non-profit organizations; or generating awareness about issues among the public at large. Some challenges, such as enhancing the income security of seniors, affect a broad segment of the population and involved providing pensions to millions of people; other challenges called for a more tailored approach to address particular circumstances, such as providing the assistance that helped more than 2,500 people with disabilities improve their employability. A new Homelessness Partnering Strategy that increases horizontality and partnerships was developed to improve access to the range of services and programs that homeless individuals and families need to move toward self-sufficiency. Working towards this strategic outcome also contributed to a number of Government of Canada outcomes, such as A Diverse Society that Promotes Linguistic Duality and Social Inclusion, Safe and Secure Communities, Income Security and Employment for Canadians, Strong Economic Growth and an Innovative and Knowledge Based Economy.

Program Activity: Social Investment

Canada's economic prosperity, its vibrant labour market, and the positive outlook for our country's future are closely linked to the security and well-being of Canadians, their families and communities.

The means by which individuals attain income security, care for and support a family and participate in their community contributes to the extent of their well-being and inclusion in Canadian society. In 2006-2007, the Department continued to build and enhance social investments for Canadians.

Despite current economic successes, Canada still faces many social challenges that require our full attention and support. Individuals, families and communities are experiencing diverse impacts from a variety of different sources, such as changing family structures and dynamics, an aging population, and the challenge of securing adequate income. As a result, the Department worked with stakeholders, provinces and territories to address and develop collaborative solutions to these challenges.

Key areas of accomplishment in 2006-2007 include:

• Introduction and passage of legislation to amend the Canada Pension Plan and the Old Age Security Act (Bill C-36).
• Extended the Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities for one-year, to March 31, 2008, with annual funding of $222 million made available to the provinces/territories.
• Selected 16 new communities in the Understanding the Early Years initiative through a Call for Proposals process.
• Approved 775 New Horizons for Seniors Program projects for a total of 14 million dollars.
• Launched the new National Seniors Council to advise the Government on matters related to the health, well-being and quality of life of seniors.
• Developed and implemented Branch-wide information-gathering strategies to support reporting on results.

For more details on programs supporting this activity, please see Section IV - Other Items of Interest.

Program Activity: Children and Families

The Government of Canada recognizes that families are the building blocks of a society, and that child care is a priority for Canadian families. Canada's Universal Child Care Plan, consisting of both the Universal child Care Benefit and Support for the Creation of Child Care Spaces, represents a new approach to child care that respects the role of parents in determining how best to care for their children and recognizes the responsibility of provincial and territorial governments for delivering child care services.

In addition, governments recognize that to secure a vibrant and productive society, the well-being of children is crucial. Through investments in key initiatives, participating governments have agreed to policy objectives that will enhance the well-being of children and the economic security of individuals as well as families with children. The Department is responsible for federal leadership on these initiatives and is actively involved in facilitating learning and reporting on results. Human Resources and Social Development Canada manages three horizontal initiatives in support of this strategic outcome including: the National Child Benefit Initiative, Federal-Provincial-Territorial Early Childhood Development Agreement and Federal-Provincial-Territorial Multilateral Framework on Early Learning and Childcare.

Details on these horizontal initiatives can be found at:
http://www.nationalchildbenefit.ca/home_e.html (National Child Benefit),
http://www.ecd-elcc.ca (Early Childhood Development),
http://www.ecd-elcc.ca/en/ecd/ecd_home.shtml (Federal/Provincial/Territorial Communiqué on Early Childhood Development).

The Department also plays a key role, on behalf of the Government of Canada, in the development and exchange of knowledge, information, and best practices related to children and their families.

Key accomplishments for 2006-2007 included:

• On-going policy work on Canada's Universal Child Care Plan, including supporting the creation of child care spaces
• On-going implementation of the Early Childhood Development Agreement and the Multilateral Framework on Early Learning and Child Care, including monitoring of and reporting on activities and expenditures
• Implementation of the Universal Child Care Benefit
• The National Child Benefit Supplement for low-income families with children increased by approximately $185 per child, bringing maximum National Child Benefit Supplement benefits
• for a two-child family to $3,665 in 2006-2007. Government of Canada investment in the National Child Benefit Supplement was $3.5 billion in 2006-2007.⁴

For more details on programs supporting this activity, please see Section IV - Other Items of Interest.

Program Activity: Housing and Homelessness

The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of contributing to the reduction of homelessness in Canada. It does so by investing in 121 communities across the country to provide them with the tools to develop a range of interventions to stabilize the living arrangements of homeless persons and prevent those at-risk from falling into homelessness. The government of Canada works with new and existing partners and stakeholders such as communities, Aboriginal organizations and other levels of government to share strategies, deliver programs and develop mechanisms to prevent and reduce homelessness in Canada. The Department carries out the above activities on behalf of the Government of Canada, through the delivery of the National Homelessness Initiative.

Included in its investments in 121 communities, the National Homelessness Initiative makes strategic investments in 61 high profile designated communities, as well as in small, rural and Aboriginal communities across Canada to provide a range of supports and services such as drug counselling, rent banks, and supportive and longer-term housing that help homeless and at-risk people move toward self-sufficiency. The National Homelessness Initiative is contributing to the government of Canada outcomes by assisting homeless individuals through the provision of supports that assist in removing barriers to full participation in society, in an effort to strengthen the economic and social foundations of Canadian life and contributing to Canada´s economic growth.

Human Resources and Social Development Canada's responsibility for direct service delivery to Canadians is anchored in a network of 320 Service Canada Centres, as well as regional offices in each of the provinces and territories operated by Service Canada. The National Homelessness Initiative works in partnership with Service Canada's regional service delivery network. Regional Service Canada offices play a central role in implementing the National Homelessness Initiative and in building and enhancing horizontal partnerships within communities. By working closely with communities, the required services are determined, as well as the approach best suited to meeting those needs. Delivery can occur through agreements with community entities, with third party service providers, and with other levels of government. Responsibility for direct delivery to homeless persons depends on the type of agreement in place.

A summative evaluation of the National Homelessness Initiative was conducted in 2006-2007 and will be completed in 2007-2008. The results of the evaluation will be used to support results-based management and accountability of the new Homelessness Partnering Strategy

A new Homelessness Partnering Strategy was drafted and approved in December, 2006. The Homelessness Partnering Strategy replaces and builds upon the National Homelessness Initiative. The Homelessness Partnering Strategy also responds to the Auditor General's recommendations in her report of November of 2005, to improve horizontal accountability through the introduction of the Homelessness Accountability Network.

In 2006-2007, the key accomplishments were:

• Approximately $175.5 million in National Homelessness Initiative funding helped a total of 1,140 homelessness-related projects to provide support services to some of Canada's most vulnerable citizens in 121 communities across the country.
• Existing authorities, including the Terms and Conditions of the National Homelessness Initiative, were extended to allow projects that could not be completed in 2006-2007 to be completed in the new fiscal year. This means that services to homeless persons continued without disruption.
• The Housing and Homelessness Branch built upon best practices and lessons learned from the previous initiative to develop the policy framework for the new Homelessness Partnering Strategy, which shifts emphasis from remedial interventions, such as emergency shelters, to the prevention and reduction of homelessness through transitional and supportive housing. The policy development process was supported by national consultation, which resulted in the renewed broad-based support of stakeholders, including provincial and territorial governments, for federal leadership in preventing and reducing homelessness.

Achieve Better Outcomes for Canadians
Through Service Excellence

Service Canada

Service Matters: In its second year of operation, Service Canada generated improvements in service to Canadians by introducing new service offerings, improving service across delivery channels, improving integrity of benefit programs and increasing investments for greater efficiency in the infrastructure supporting service delivery.

Service Canada was launched in 2005 based on approaches to service delivery that drew on careful research, analysis and planning. It was shaped by listening to Canadians about the approach to service they want to see and their views on what works best for them.

The result so far is a one-stop, easy-to-access services across multiple channels including phone, Internet, in-person and mail. Service Canada has over 19,000 employees dedicated to serving Canadians; almost 600 points of service throughout the country, including outreach and mobile services; the national 1 800 O-Canada phone service; a network of call centres, as well as and a range of on-line services offered on the Internet through servicecanada.gc.ca.

Service Canada, in collaboration with a number of federal departments and agencies as well as partners in other governments, delivers a range of integrated programs and services to Canadians, further streamlining how government services are provided. The Service Canada focus on making it easier for Canadians to access the programs and services they need is in the early stages of reaching a longer-term goal to contribute to improved policy outcomes, and better connecting citizens to government.

Did you Know?

Each year, Service Canada:

• Serves more than 31 million Canadians - from newborns to seniors
• Pays over $70 billion ($190M a day) in benefits to Canadians
• Handles over 53 million calls
• Handles over 11 million transactions online
• Mails over 20 million letters
• Averages 1 million transactions per day

For 2006-2007, the Service Canada agenda had three major program activity focuses:

• Seamless, Citizen-centred Service;
• Integrity; and
• Collaborative, Networked government Service.

Program Activity: Seamless, Citizen-Centred

Consistent with the milestones set out in its multi-year plan, Service Canada made significant progress toward its goal of providing a one-stop personalized service experience for Canadians offering high-quality service across all delivery channels and responding to the identified service delivery interests of Canadians. The activities have emphasized a citizen-centred focus to delivering what Canadians want and to bring services as close to them as possible. That work took place under the three priorities: Transforming Service to Canadians; Achieving and Rewarding a Service Excellence Culture and Strengthening Accountability and Transparency.

Priority 1: Transforming Service to Canadians

As set out in the Report on Plans and Priorities, Service Canada had already begun a multi-year plan to transform service to Canadians, whether in person, using the telephone or via the Internet. That plan to transform services to Canadians had the following five elements: Implementing Our Service Strategies for Client Communities; Undertaking Business and Product Development; Expanding Our Regional and Community Presence; Integrating Call Centres and Renewing Internet and Intranet Services, each of which is described below.

Implementing Our Service Strategies for Client Communities

Service Canada's goal was to implement a service strategy for more meaningful and responsive service to client communities. As part of this effort, Service Canada followed through on its commitment to create client advisory groups that would lead to better understanding the priorities of particular groups of clients and identify client segment champions. The establishment of the Service for People with Disabilities External Advisory Group in September 2006 and its subsequent work with Service Canada demonstrates the value of that engagement, which complemented existing work to improve services for people with disabilities.⁷ For example, a new policy on sign language services means that Service Canada Centres use a standardized approach to ensure they can communicate with Canadians who use sign language. Some 35 Service Canada Centres have improved their accessibility to Canadians with disabilities and the 11 most commonly used Service Canada forms are now all available online. The Service Canada website was enhanced to include a "Read to me" automated reading service link on each page that assists visually impaired users.

The Service Canada Voluntary Sector Advisory Committee was established as a vehicle to build a strategic and positive relationship with non-profit service delivery organizations. The Committee began with a focus on the administrative issues surrounding grant and contribution programs. It provided advice on the implications for Service Canada of the recommendations of the Independent Blue Ribbon Panel on Grants and Contributions.⁸ However, the emphasis of Voluntary Sector Advisory Committee was broadened, enabling it to provide advice on the needs of seniors, families, newcomers to Canada and general service delivery improvements.⁹

A Newcomers to Canada segment strategy was developed in consultation with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Human Resources and Social Development Canada and other federal departments and drew on consultations with immigrant-serving organizations.¹⁰ An Official Languages Minority Community segment strategy was developed after consultations with community organizations, opinion leaders and citizens.¹¹

A key commitment under a new three-year action plan was to establish 17 points of service designated to provide enhanced services to members of official language minority communities during 2006-2007. Service Canada exceeded that goal, establishing 33 points of service, including outreach sites. For example, points of services in Saskatoon and Gravelbourg were established to provide services to francophone clients in Saskatchewan.

In addition, Service Canada engaged national Aboriginal organizations in discussions to develop more meaningful and responsive services for Aboriginal citizens and in the development of an Aboriginal Client Service Strategy. In support of the Aboriginal and Newcomers to Canada segment strategies, Service Canada has produced fact sheets in seven Aboriginal and 12 foreign languages on the seven programs and services of greatest interest to those communities. Building on this work, Service Canada's Multi-Language Service Initiative continued to test various approaches to in-person multi-language service across the country. Ongoing pilot projects include the use of a third-party telephone interpretation service and hiring staff who speak targeted languages to deliver multi-language services in Service Canada Centres and through scheduled outreach.

Undertaking Business and Product Development

This priority centres on the Service Canada commitment to develop processes and approaches that are founded on service offerings that reflect the needs of Canadians rather than the traditional program-driven approach delivered through separate service networks. A key to this was a commitment to improve and develop the service offerings that Canadians access through Service Canada. This commitment was met through the introduction of 13 new service offerings and the enhancement of others. New service offerings included access to pleasure craft licences, the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant, the Universal Child Care Benefit and Department of National Defence and Royal Canadian Mounted Police recruitment awareness. Service Canada and the Ontario government have collaborated to provide the Newborn Registration Service that enables parents to register their newborn child's birth and apply for a birth certificate and Social Insurance Number at the same time. The full list is included in the Achievements Against Priorities chart later in this report.

Service Canada continued to introduce improvements to existing service offerings that responded to the needs of Canadians. The existing Passport Receiving Agent service that enables Canadians in smaller and more remote communities without Passport Canada locations to file their applications at Service Canada Centres was expanded by 58 to respond to increased demand. During the year, Service Canada handled more than 67,000 passport applications.¹²

A new "May I help you" feature was introduced. Service Canada developed a plan leading to the piloting of its new Service Experience Model, which defines the process and environment of service to citizens.

Expanding Our Regional and Community Presence

Service Canada committed to establishing itself as the Government of Canada network of choice by offering choice and access to Canadians through measures such as doubling the points of service. Service Canada has made progress towards that commitment in many ways. For example, it introduced 171 new points of service (5 new Service Canada Centres, 129 new Scheduled outreach locations and 37 new Service Canada Community Offices). Among those new Outreach locations, six were established in the Northwest Territories, 11 in Nunavut and 72 in Ontario.

By March 31, 2007, there were 587 Service Canada points of service. As a result, 95.1% Canadians live within 50 kilometres of a Service Canada point of service, exceeding the 90% target. The Service Canada website includes a "Find a Service Canada Centre Near You" feature that makes it simple for Canadians to find these points of service.¹³

Service Canada implemented extended hours of service at 53 sites against a target of 60 sites, achieving 88% of its stated commitment. However, among locations with extended hours, in Toronto alone, the Canada Quay site operates on Saturdays and Sundays and the Malvern Service Canada Centre have extended their hours of operation to weekday evenings and Saturday. Officially opening in October, 2006, the Malvern Service Centre is located in a priority Toronto neighbourhood, that has a higher than average percentage of youth facing barriers and visible minorities. This Centre provides a focal point at which youth can access information about employment and training opportunities as well as the full suite of Service Canada offerings. In its first two weeks of operation, the Centre provided service to over 1,800 clients and has been well received by the community.

Service Canada began to implement a strong and consistent visual identity that will be seen by Canadians in Service Canada Centre signage, advertising and public notices as well as the new Service Canada Internet site, described later in this section.

Integrating Call Centres

Service Canada handled more than 53 million calls to its interactive voice response systems and to call centre agents in 2006-2007.

In a year in which call volumes rose by 22%, Service Canada met its target of answering 85% of calls to the 1-800-O-Canada general information number within 18 seconds, recording a 92% client satisfaction rate.

The Canada Student Loan Program, a specialized call centre service, exceeded its target of answering 95% of calls within 180 seconds, achieving a 98.4% call answer rate.

Service Canada continued to implement improvements to other specialized services supporting its call centre network. Facing a number of challenges, Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security call centres answered 85% of calls within 180 seconds, while Employment Insurance answered 44% of calls within 180 seconds and 67% within five minutes. As a result of the introduction of a number of service improvements, including Saturday service and extended hours of operation, Employment Insurance Call Centres were successful in achieving 72% service level in March, at the height of the winter peak. In the last quarter of the year, high volume messages decreased by 67% compared to the same period the previous year (659,124 compared to 2 million).

In addition, a plan to improve the Interactive Voice Response service was completed and a plan was developed for the implementation of a national Quality Assurance Program. A new Common Reference Tool was launched to provide consistent, accurate information to all Service Canada call centre and processing agents at the same time. Service Canada has also completed a vision, and plan for the integration of call centres as well as migration to a new delivery model that will be sustainable, affordable and result in tangible service improvements for Canadians.

Renewing Internet and Intranet Services

As planned, Service Canada launched a new website that gives Canadians easy access to Government of Canada programs and services.¹⁴ Users now have simple access to the right programs, services or topics of interest to them. As noted above, the new site, has a "Read to me" feature that reads out content for clients. Information about Service Canada points of service now also includes photos of buildings and direction maps. In addition, the Service Canada site also enables clients to provide feedback on their user experience through questions with multiple choice answers and a rating scale. Service Canada's Internet availability exceeded the 95% target for 24/7 access, achieving accessibility 99.3% of the time. This was a factor in enabling Canadians and other users to make more than 22.3 million visits to the Service Canada site during 2006-2007, quadrupling the number of visits in 2005-2006.

Service Canada staff and the Canadians who turn to them for answers and assistance began to benefit from a redesigned Service Canada intranet site, which replaced more than 40 sites that had been in previous use. The new intranet site provides consistent tools and information that help employees find what they need in the workplace more easily and more quickly.

Priority 2: Achieving and Rewarding a Service Excellence Culture

When citizens deal with people who provide government services and who do so efficiently and responsively, they gain a greater confidence in government. In the same way, when client service is prized and supported, employees know that their personal commitment to service excellence is respected and valued. The plan to build the culture of service excellence that is central to plans for Service Canada had the following three elements: Building for Service Excellence; Achieving Service Excellence by Enhancing Employee Skills and Capabilities and Rewarding Service Excellence.

Building for Service Excellence

Service Canada identified key themes and activities that it will use to build a culture of service excellence over the medium term, including defining the skills, behaviours and competencies that are linked to service excellence. Service Canada is determined to create a new government career built around efficient and effective service delivery. To reflect an evolution of the work functions of performing program specific transactions, to delivering holistic, citizen-centred service, Service Canada has reclassified 5000 employees. Service Canada also initiated a program of service excellence training, delivered through the Service Canada College (as described below).

Targeted recruitment represented another step in establishing service delivery as a career path. For example, a new visible minority recruitment program was launched to enable Service Canada staffing to reflect the communities it serves, complemented by a university recruitment strategy.

To ensure that staff has the necessary skills, Service Canada created an "Investing in our People" framework to attract, develop and retain talent. It engaged staff through information efforts that included town hall meetings, enabling employees to ask questions directly of senior managers. A new "Rumour Busters" Intranet site allowed employees to post questions and concerns. Service Canada implemented a human resource planning process linked to the achievement of business objectives at both the strategic and operational levels and developed a range of human resource policies and tools under the new regime established through the Public Service Modernization Act. Its new Governance Framework for Official Languages was put in place to reinforce respect for both official languages and the use by employees of the official language of their choice.

There were also initial steps across many initiatives that will be finalized and implemented over the coming years, such as the development of generic service delivery roles, establishing a baseline to gauge improvements in the Service Canada culture of service excellence and introduction of a revamped employee wellness program and an informal conflict management system to promote employee well-being in Service Canada.

Achieving Service Excellence by Enhancing Employee Skills and Capabilities

As planned, the Service Canada College was formally launched with the opening of the Galleria learning centre in Regina in September 2006, after substantial work to develop curricula and arrange staff participation.¹⁵ The College provides comprehensive management of learning with a coordinated approach to training and funding the learning needs of the organization. It is the physical focus for Service Canada's commitment to ensuring that staff receives the citizen-centred service training they need to achieve the organization's goals. Service Canada also launched a new Service Excellence Certification Program to ensure that those who deal with clients, as well as their managers, are knowledgeable first points of contact¹⁶.

Service Canada College partnered with the Canada School of Public Service to develop and implement a service delivery curriculum for use across the government. Service Canada also provided specialized courses to managers and employees. These included training to support new Service Canada service offerings including pleasure craft licensing and the Universal Child Care Benefit as well as courses and orientation programs provided by Service Canada regions.

Rewarding Service Excellence

The Government of Canada wants Canadians to experience service excellence every time they deal with Service Canada, whether in person, on the phone or through electronic services. To move towards that goal in 2006-2007, Service Canada launched some immediate actions such as a new Pride and Recognition program to recognize employee service innovation and excellence, and those who "go the extra mile" in serving Canadians. The program included the first national Service Canada awards ceremony, which took place in Regina.

To stabilize the Service Canada executive ranks and plan for succession, the organization developed a targeted human resources strategy and implemented innovations in leadership training. Also, as a means to strengthen and clarify accountabilities, a new approach to the development of senior executive-level Performance Management Agreements was implemented.

Priority 3: Strengthening Accountability and Transparency

A central Service Canada commitment was to report on service progress to Parliament and Canadians. In addition to the material provided through the Departmental Performance Report, and Report on Plans and Priorities, Service Canada developed the first Service Canada Annual Report.¹⁷ It explained the background of Service Canada, service delivery improvements, integrity strategies, partnership building and, most relevant to this priority, Service Canada's commitments to service. The Service Canada Annual Report described the Service Charter and Service Standards that outline what Canadians can expect from Service Canada and how they can provide feedback.¹⁸ It also provided information on Service Canada and the detailed Performance Scorecard for 2005-2006. The 2006-2007 Scorecard results are included in the next Report.

A key element in improved transparency and service improvement was the work of the Office for Client Satisfaction.¹⁹ During 2006-2007, the Office received almost 2,000 formal pieces of feedback during the year (179 suggestions, 306 compliments, 730 complaints and 779 referrals of feedback to other departments). Based on analysis of that feedback, the Office for Client Satisfaction has developed recommendations for improvements to the delivery of benefits and services that are to be submitted to Service Canada management for review and consideration. The Office for Client Satisfaction met its own service standards of returning 99.9% of calls from individuals within 24 hours (excepting weekends and holidays) and replying to 100% of inquiries within seven days.

A new role, the Fairness Advisor, was established²⁰. The Office of the Fairness Advisor was put in place to provide an independent and impartial means for community service delivery organizations to address any issues they have with Service Canada. Organizations were encouraged to contact the Office of the Fairness Advisor with concerns or complaints about the administration or delivery of grants and contributions programs that they are unable to resolve with Service Canada. The Fairness Advisor acts as an independent and objective fact-finder in these cases. The Office of the Fairness Advisor is also a point of contact for dialogue and feedback on issues of fairness, integrity and respect of the rules surrounding those programs. When Service Canada issues a call for proposals to community service delivery organizations, in order to provide specific services to a community, the Office of the Fairness Advisor observes the evaluation of these proposals by Service Canada staff.

Program Activity: Integrity

As an organization that issues over $70 billion in benefits to Canadians annually, Canadians expect Service Canada to ensure that these benefits go to the right people, in the right amounts and for the purposes for which they were intended. Service Canada continued to place a strong emphasis on the use of risk management strategies to identify the best ways to improve the integrity of program operations, demonstrate sound stewardship of public funds and generate savings. That work took place under the Integrity priority which was originally organized in the Report on Plans and Priorities under two elements, Establishing Enterprise Integrity and Meeting our Saving Commitment. A third element, Achieving Processing Automation, was moved to this priority from the "Work as a Collaborative and Networked Government" priority to better reflect its importance to achieving Service Canada integrity goals.

Priority: Strengthening Accountability and Transparency

Establishing Enterprise Integrity

The centrepiece of Service Canada's commitment to integrity was to strengthen the Social Insurance Number as a safe and secure common identifier for Service Canada's Social Insurance Number-based programs. To help achieve this, Service Canada undertook a number of initiatives to further enhance the integrity of information in the Social Insurance Register. This work will enable Service Canada to establish clear and concrete goals for Social Insurance Register completeness, accuracy and reliability and to measure and report on these goals beginning in fiscal year 2007-2008. It will also address one of the Auditor General's recommendations related to the Social Insurance Number, which are described in greater detail below. Another key initiative to further enhance the integrity of information in the Social Insurance Register is the vital events linkages initiative, which is a process to standardize data exchanges with the organizations in provincial and territorial governments that are responsible for recording vital events, such as births and deaths.

As part of Service Canada's ongoing work, there were 9,000 Social Insurance Number investigations related to issues such as suspected abuse and assistance to individuals and organizations faced with compromised Social Insurance Numbers. To make Canadians aware of proper and improper uses of their Social Insurance Numbers, Service Canada developed a Social Insurance Number Code of Practice for citizens, employers, employees and Service Canada partners. Service Canada posted the Code on its website and developed a preliminary marketing strategy.²¹

Identity authentication is the process by which Service Canada ensures authorized access to its personalized services by drawing on the Social Insurance Register data. During 2006-2007, Service Canada authenticated identities for over 11.7 million transactions in the online channel alone, acting as the front door of My Service Canada Account. This directly contributed to the integrity of the Social Insurance Registry database, relying on up-to-date vital statistics information and ensured proper access controls were and continue to be in place. This increasing data integrity was linked to other innovations, such as full implementation of Social Insurance Number Rapid Access. This risk-based Social Insurance Number issuance process allows Canadians with all the necessary documents to apply for and receive a Social Insurance Number in one visit to a Service Canada Centre. During 2006-2007, more than one million Social Insurance Number applications were processed or 67% of all applications using rapid access.

In the Report on Plans and Priorities, Service Canada committed to expand its risk analysis capacity and its enterprise-wide quality framework, both of which contribute to achieving Service Integrity by providing the correct service offering to meet the client's full entitlement to benefits and services. Both commitments were achieved. It strengthened risk management processes that were integrated across the organization and in its business plans. At a more targeted level, Service Canada successfully tested the concepts of integrating a risk-based approach into the client service experience model. This approach will provide citizens with services that are tailored to their needs and will allow better targeting of integrity activities.

Service Canada is building an enterprise-wide quality measurement system to better assess compliance with program authorities, as well as the accuracy of payments. This measurement system will help Service Canada ensure that the activities which it implements to mitigate and manage risk are applied correctly, and that service accuracy targets are achieved.

In February 2007, the Auditor General issued a Follow-up Status Report on the Management of the Social Insurance Number.²² It reviewed the progress of Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Service Canada and Treasury Board Secretariat in responding to recommendations in the 2002 Follow-up Report of the Auditor General.

The Auditor General's report noted satisfactory progress on several aspects of Social Insurance Number management within Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Service Canada's responsibility including the redesign of the Social Insurance Number issuance process, updated standards for proving identity and in identifying and investigating Social Insurance Number-related fraud. The review also noted that current efforts underway and plans to develop a comprehensive quality measurement and reporting system for the Social Insurance Register indicate a positive direction. However, the Office of the Auditor General found that not enough progress had been made on Integrity goals for the Social Insurance Register. The work described above is intended to address this issue.

Meeting Our Savings Commitments

Having achieved $292 million in savings in operating costs and program payments in 2005-2006, Service Canada generated $424 million of savings in 2006-2007.

A key contributor to achieving savings was the range of program integrity strategies. In 2006-2007, these included the implementation of increased preventative Claimant Information Sessions and risk-based claimant entitlement interviews to ensure the payments go only to eligible individuals. Service Canada also increased automated data-match program investigations to detect people who did not report earnings or absences from Canada while on claim. In addition, Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security investigation programs were implemented that used information on deaths from provincial data to ensure that payments stopped as soon after a death as possible and other services were offered such as survivor benefits, as appropriate.

Benefit Processing Integrity

Service Canada made significant improvements to its benefit processing environment through the course of 2006-2007. Service Canada implemented rigorous forecasting, planning, tracking and reporting for effective workload management through normal and peak periods in order to ensure that the $70B in benefit payments that Service Canada makes to Canadians were processed on time at a consistently high level of quality.

Service Canada exceeded its targets in a number of areas. For example, Service Canada achieved a national result of 92.8% for processing Canada Pension Plan retirement benefit payments within 30 days, well above the target of 85 %. Service Canada also surpassed its target of rendering 70% of Canada Pension Plan Disability reconsideration decisions within 120 days, achieving a level of 81.6%, up from 68.6 % in 2005-2006. Nationally, 94.1% of Old Age Security benefits were paid within 30 days.

A number of changes and improvements were also made to Employment Insurance benefit payment processes to address the challenges posed by summer and winter peak periods. As a result, 79.7% of Canadians who needed Employment Insurance benefits received their payments in the 28 days following receipt of claim against a target of 80%. Despite the introduction of new legislative and major changes to processes, the accuracy rate of Employment Insurance claims calculation was 94.5% against a target of 95%.

Achieving Processing Automation

A review of Employment Insurance payment processes resulted in simplified and standardized processes and procedures before the normal winter increase in claims allowing for a 10% increase in productivity and better service to Canadians.

Service Canada recognizes that automation of the processes used to administer benefit programs improves program integrity. Automation eliminates the errors that arise in manual processing such as data not correctly entered and it prevents delays that arise when documents have to await manual data entry.

The benefit programs that Service Canada delivers represented early uses of electronic systems. For example, 92.7% of the Employment Insurance applications are now received online.²³ These services have allowed Service Canada to be seen as leading e-government initiatives - and one that sees more opportunities to increase the automation of service delivery processes.

To build on this base, Service Canada continued to expand its use of increasingly automated processes to achieve internal operational efficiencies and improved effectiveness. Receiving Records of Employment (ROE) electronically is essential in order to automate the calculation of claims: 24.8% of Records of Employment representing some 55,000 businesses were submitted electronically achieving a 9.1% increase over the 15.7% that were submitted electronically the previous fiscal year. This was 24,000 more employers than a year earlier, well ahead of the target of 15,500 new employers on Records of Employment Web. Other improvements include the digitization of Records of Employment, permitting Service Canada staff to obtain copies electronically through the Service Canada intranet or by e-mail when they are reviewing a file.

During the year, automated claims processing was used for 21,000 initial claims for Employment Insurance benefits exceeding the target of 3% and 171,000 applications to renew existing Employment Insurance claims. The renewal claim activity covered 31.5% of all such claims, exceeding the 30% target. One benefit of the increased automation of processing was that Service Canada staff in the regions were able to balance workloads across the country during the winter peak period. This resulted in improved service to Canadians.

Program Activity: Work as a Collaborative and Network Government

Service Canada partners with other government organizations to provide Canadians with single window access to government programs and services. Key aspects of collaborative and networked government to achieve better client information integration and automate those processes involving client information. The work of this program activity took place under the two priorities, namely, Transforming Services to Canadians and Achieving Client Information Integration.

Priority 1: Transforming Service to Canadians

Many of the initiatives that are helping to transform direct services to Canadians were described in earlier portions of this Report, particularly under the program activity: "Seamless, Citizen-centred Service." The focus under this program activity was to expand relations with other departments and government organizations through two planning elements: Building Our Capacity as the Government of Canada network of choice and building partnership strategies.

Building our Capacity as the Government of Canada Network of Choice

By the end of 2006-2007, Service Canada was delivering services on behalf of 13 federal departments, agencies and organizations (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Canadian Heritage, Canada Revenue Agency, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Correctional Service Canada, Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada, National Defence, Passport Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Transport Canada and Veterans Affairs Canada).

Service Canada pursued its commitment to use the best approaches possible to provide services on behalf of partners. For example, it issued more than 123,000 pleasure craft licences in the first year of this activity on behalf of Transport Canada.²⁴ A key to that result was an agreement with Service Canada, Transport Canada and Service New Brunswick, which developed an automated system with 24/7 access to processing licence applications in New Brunswick. This initiative received a Public Service Award for excellence, recognizing the strong partnership approach.

Service Canada completed ten pilot projects that provided direct telephone access to Canada Revenue Agency services that involved more than 14,000 service requests. In Quebec, four Service Canada Centres continued a pilot providing access to Citizenship and Immigration Canada services and also experimented with an additional pilot project involving Canada Revenue Agency services. The commitment to partnerships was mutual, as indicated by the Service Canada pilot project in Manitoba to cost-share resources with Parks Canada to provide year-round services in Churchill and seasonal services in Riding Mountain National Park.

Building Partnership Strategies

Of the 13 federal departments and agencies listed under the previous element of this priority, five were either new Service Canada partners during the year or were the source of new service offerings. Service Canada provided access to Canadians on behalf of Human Resources and Social Development Canada to the new Universal Child Care Benefit and the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant.^25-26 The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Department of National Defence began work with Service Canada to support their recruitment efforts. The Department of Canadian Heritage worked through Service Canada to deliver the Chinese Head Tax Initiative, just as Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada did for the Common Experience Payment.²⁷

Service Canada worked work with other departments and agencies in support of the work of the Independent Blue Ribbon Panel on Grants and Contributions. This reflected Service Canada's strong relationships with the voluntary sector and its delivery of many grants and contributions programs.²⁸

Many Service Canada partnerships took place at the regional level. These included planning and coordination of intergovernmental agreements and collaboration with provincial and territorial governments on issues of shared interest, particularly related to labour market issues.

In Ontario, the Canada-Ontario Labour Market Development Agreement that came into effect on January 1, 2007 involved the transfer of design and delivery responsibilities for Employment Insurance-funded labour market programming to the provincial government.²⁹ While the agreement involved the transfer of 13,000 contribution agreements and the salaries for 670 positions as well as operating costs, it took place with no negative impacts on Ontarians. In many communities, co-location agreements between Service Canada and provincial ministries meant that local residents, businesses and service delivery partners continued to deal with the same staff, who were now provincial employees, and continued to receive services through Service Canada Centres. This complemented another effort in Ontario to develop a memorandum of understanding with the Ontario government's Service Ontario to achieve collaborative service delivery for one-stop service.

In central Alberta, a June 2006 pilot project brought together services related to Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits and the Alberta Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped program. The introduction of a streamlined application and screening process meant that people with disabilities seeking benefits faced fewer steps in getting the benefits to which they were entitled from each program and had a far smaller risk of potential overpayments between both programs. The streamlining also reduced operating costs for the two governments by making the process far more efficient for all involved. Based on the success in that part of the province, a second phase began for people in southern Alberta in February 2007.

Priority 2: Achieving Client Information Integration

Canadians have often complained about having to provide the same information over and over when applying for different government programs. Consistent with its citizen-centred approach, Service Canada is addressing this issue by creating a single, integrated set of information on individual clients-all supported by appropriate privacy protections-that can be drawn on when they apply for benefits or services. In developing this information base, Service Canada used a 2006-2007 plan containing three elements (as set out in the Report on Plans and Priorities). However, as noted earlier, one element, Achieving Processing Automation, has been reported with Service Canada's integrity commitments. The remaining two elements within this priority are: Establishing a One-Client View and Achieving Information Integration, and Transforming Vital Events Management.

Establishing a One-Client View and Achieving Information Integration

To provide high-quality service to Canadians, Service Canada staff needs to be able to use the most complete information possible on individuals. While taking privacy issues into account and ensuring appropriate privacy protection, as the systems are designed, Service Canada is bringing together approaches and best practices from other organizations to collect, use and integrate information to better serve Canadians. Integrating information reduces the administrative burden for Canadians who deal with Service Canada and brings more efficiency, since Service Canada staff gain a clear view of what data is required and can merge duplicated data. The creation of this integrated "one client view" is complex and requires substantial planning and testing to achieve the best results with the most efficient use of public funds, all the while respecting Privacy legislation and guidelines. During the year, Service Canada developed a One Client View Strategy and identified three different concepts for how it could be developed further. Testing of different client interaction scenarios began to compare the concepts to likely "real world" uses by Canadians.

Transforming Vital Events Management

Accurate identity information in the Social Insurance Register is a critical requirement for citizen-centred service and to address abuse in social programs Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Service Canada have been seeking to improve the integrity of Social Insurance Register data by moving from manual information entry based on inputs from many sources to standardized exchanges with the organizations in provincial and territorial governments that are responsible for recording vital events such as births and deaths. Working with provinces and territories and with other federal departments, Service Canada has been able to increase the accuracy of the Social Insurance Register through more timely and complete updates of vital event information such as birth, death and immigration data.

During the year, Service Canada worked towards developing a government-wide approach to the management of vital events, as well as an implementation strategy and business plan. It signed a memorandum of understanding on vital events with the Government of Alberta, which added to the two in place with Ontario and British Columbia that enable the validation of identity documents.

In Ontario, province-wide implementation of the new Newborn Registration Service was launched in September 2006.³⁰ Almost 16,000 families took advantage of the service that enables them to apply online to register the birth of their child, obtain a birth certificate and a Social Insurance Number through a single application. A similar process with British Columbia was developed and tested for implementation in April 2007.

Approximately 45,000 historical death records and over 92,000 death notifications from Ontario were received and matched against the Social Insurance Register. In addition, nearly 226,000 historical death records were received from British Columbia and over 700,000 historical death records were received from Alberta.

Negotiations were undertaken between Service Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada toward agreements that, when finalized and implemented, will enable newcomers to Canada to apply for a Social Insurance Number during the immigration process and will give Service Canada access to Citizenship and Immigration Canada's citizenship database to validate the data provided by the applicant.

The following indicators also provide information concerning the Department's performance.

For more details on programs supporting this activity, please see Section IV - Other Items of Interest

Section III

Supplementary Information

Organizational Information

Human Resources and Social Development Canada

HRSDC - Service Canada

Financial Performance Overview

Please note that financial tables provided in this section present Human Resources and Skills Development and Social Development separately in order to align with the 2006-2007 Main Estimates.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

In 2006-2007, the department was authorized to spend $19,449.7 million or $269.6 million less than the consolidated planned spending of $19,719.3 million (tables 1 and 3). The variance is explained by:

• A decrease of $332.8 million in the Specified Purpose Accounts mostly attributable to a revised forecast of Employment Insurance Part I benefits in the Employment Insurance Account. Employment Insurance benefits declined mainly as a result of a decrease in the number of beneficiaries, consistent with lower unemployment;
• A net decrease of $195.6 million in the statutory payment authorities mostly attributable to:
  • A decrease of $70.0 million in Canada Education Savings Grants (CESG), due to downward estimate adjustment mainly due to sluggish payments of the Additional CESG (A-CESG). Lower than expected A-CESG payments are attributable to several factors including low awareness and more gradual implementation from Registered Education Savings Plan promoters;
  • A decrease of $58.2 million in Payments related to the direct financing arrangement under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, is mainly due to a decrease in the alternative payments payable to non-participating provinces, resulting from the fact that defaulted loans, which is a component of that payment, was significantly reduced;
  • A decrease of $28.7 million for the Wage Earner Protection Program which was not implemented in 2006-2007;
  • A decrease of $27.3 million in Liabilities under the Canada Student Loans Act due to the fact that actual spending is presented net of the recoveries on claims while the planned spending represents the forecast expenditure of claims payments;
  • A decrease of $23.2 million in Canada Learning Bond due to downward estimate adjustment due to limited uptake as a result of the recent introduction of the Canada Learning Bond, delayed readiness of the delivery systems of Registered Education Savings Plan promoters, and limited marketing of the Canada Learning Bond from communications and outreach activities;
  • A decrease of $23.0 million associated with contributions to employee benefit plans.
  • An increase of $26.5 million in Canada Study Grants, is the result of higher than expected up-take of the Canada Access Grants (Low Income Families and Permanent Disability), proposed in Budget 2004 and effective August 2005.
  • An increase of $7.4 million for the provision of funds for interest payments and liabilities in the form of Risk Shared loans under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act. The variance is mainly due to the continuous impact of debt management measures as well as the outstanding balance of the in-study portfolio being higher and expiring slower than previously forecasted.
• A decrease of $10.8 million in grants and contributions mostly related to:
  • A decrease of $31.6 million for the Workplace Skills Initiative reprofiled to future years;
  • A decrease of $24.8 million further to the announcement of September 25, 2006 on Effective Spending of which $10 million is related to the Youth Employment Strategy, $8.0 million related to the Training Centre Infrastructure Fund, $4.8 million related to the Adult Learning Literacy and Essential Skills program and $2.0 million related to Workplace Partners Panel;
  • A decrease of $6.2 million for items included in planned spending for which resources were not requested in 2006-2007 for Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnerships ($5.3 million) and Foreign Credential Recognition ($1.0 million);
  • Offset by an increase of $52.2 million further to:
    • a reprofile from 2005-06 to 2006-2007 for the National Homelessness Initiative ($37.2 million);
    • new funding announced for the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers and Expert Panel ($8.0 million) to assist unemployed older workers in communities with ongoing high unemployment and/or affected by downsizing; and
    • additional funding for the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant of $7.0 million (from $25.0 million to $32.0 million), to encourage more Canadians to pursue apprenticeships and reward progression by providing $1,000 per year to apprentices successfully completing their first or second year of an apprenticeship program in a Red Seal Trade.
• An increase of $250.4 million in Loans disbursed under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act is mainly due to actual gross amount of repayments being much lower than anticipated as a result of the major decrease in accounts returned to government.
• An increase of $19.2 million in net operating expenditures mainly due to:
  • Operating budget Carry-forward from 2005-2006 ($13.3 million);
  • Compensation for salary adjustments ($8.3 million);
  • Transfer from the Privy Council Office of $3.1 million for the Policy Research Initiative as a result of government restructuring;
  • Operating funds for Targeted Initiative for Older Workers and Expert Panel ($2.7 million);
  • Funding to enable the Labour Program to respond to critical program pressures resulting from steadily increasing responsibilities ($1.8 million);
  • Offset by decreases for:
    • Items included in planned spending for which resources were not requested in 2006-2007 such as Wage Earner Protection Program ($3.2 million) and Foreign Credential Recognition, ($1.0 million);
    • An amount of $2.3 million transferred to Social Development Canada for the training of employees to achieve high service delivery standards for Canadians;
    • Funding no longer required pursuant to modified resourcing requirements of the new recovery initiative of the Canada Student Loans ($2.1 million);
    • A decrease of $2.0 million further to the announcement of September 25, 2006 on Effective Spending;

The actual consolidated expenditures of $19,235.4 million were $214.3 million lower than our total consolidated authorities of $19,449.7 million. This was mainly due to:

• Grants and contributions expenditures being $108.6 million less than the authorities for:
  • The Apprenticeship Incentive Grant ($31.3 million). Funding approval for the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant was confirmed at the end of March 2007. The launch and promotional activities required to create awareness of the new program were delayed;
  • The Homelessness Initiative ($25.1 million), this amount will be requested for re-profile to 2007-2008 to ensure that funds will be available for proposals that are developed for activities to alleviate homelessness;
  • Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program ($13.1 million) mainly due to a late launch of Call for Proposals deferring spending to 2007-2008;
  • Youth Employment Strategy ($8.1 million), due to the uncertainty in determining funding requirements for the Skills Link initiative;
  • Targeted Initiative for Older Workers ($8.0 million), due to length of time to sign Federal-Provincial/Territorial agreements, pushing required work into 2007-2008;
  • The contribution agreement with Joint Voisey's Bay Employment and Training Authority ended earlier than anticipated on March 31, 2006, as the construction of the Voisey's Bay Nickel/Mine site was a year ahead of schedule ($4.7 million);
  • Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnerships ($3.8 million), due to length of time to establish the agreements. The funds were re-profiled into future years;
  • Sector Council Program ($3.8 million), a result of delays in the implementation of certain projects;
  • Costs were lower than anticipated for the World Urban Forum ($2.4 million) due to a favourable exchange rate. Funds set aside for contingencies were not required as the event ran smoothly;
  • Foreign Credential Recognition ($2.1 million) due to projects deferred to future years, particularly in the agreements with provinces;
  • Workplace Skills Initiative ($2.0 million) due to a deferral of projects to the next fiscal year;
  • Training Centre Infrastructure Fund ($1.5 million) partly due to the withdrawal of projects by the recipients;
  • Labour Management Partnership Program ($1.2 million) due to the non-approval of some projects;
  • Other lapses ($1.5 million).
• A decrease of $96.7 million in the Specified Purpose Accounts. The variance is related to the
  • Employment Insurance Account with $35.5 million in Employment Insurance Part I; Employment Insurance benefits declined in 2006-2007 due to a decrease in the number of beneficiaries, consistent with lower unemployment, and due to the introduction of the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan,
  • $50.7 million in Employment Insurance Part II out of a total budget of $2.166 billion, due to normal delays in the implementation of projects and lower than expected expenditures by some projects;
  • $49.5 million in administrative costs, mainly due to a lapsed surplus of $30.4 million for Human Resources and Social Development Canada and $12.8 million for Social Development Canada;
  • offset by $43.9 million in doubtful accounts as a result of an increase in the overpayments bad debt;
  • and to the Canada Pension Plan Account with $4.9 million in administrative costs; and

• A net operating lapse of $ 9.0 million related to $1.6 million in frozen resources and $7.4 million in general lapse. The frozen items are attributable to the Canada Student Loans Program ($1.1 million), and a year-end transfer price between salary and non-salary ($0.5 million).

Social Development Canada

In 2006-2007, the department was authorized to spend $60,787.3 million or $700.8 million more than the consolidated planned spending of $60,086.5 million (tables 1 and 3). The variance is explained by:

• A variance of $646.4 million in Grants and Contributions representing the residual amount frozen for the National Early Learning Program.
• An increase of $166.6 million in the Specified Purpose Accounts related to the Canada Pension Plan and the Employment Insurance accounts:
  • an amount of $115.0 million for the administrative costs of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board which was previously netted against the revenues of the Board;
  • a $35.7 million increase in administrative costs payable to the Canada Revenue Agency related to a $31.5 million increase and adjustment in the basic costs to administer Part I of the Canada Pension Plan and $4.2 million to undertake a special Canada Pension Plan contribution project;
  • an increase of $27.7 million in other Canada Pension Plan administration costs;
  • In the Employment Insurance Account, the increase in departmental administrative costs ($5.2 million) is mainly due to collective bargaining increases.
  • The increase is offset by a revision to forecast in Canada Pension Plan benefits of $17.0 million.
• An increase of $14.4 million in net operating expenditures is largely due to:
  • Compensation for salary adjustments ($14.8 million);
  • Operating budget Carry forward from 2005-2006 ($11.9 million);
  • An increase of $7.7 million for Service Canada to deliver the lump sum payments recognizing the experience of residing at an Indian Residential School and its impact (Common Experience Payments);
  • An amount of $2.3 million transferred from Human Resources and Skills Development for the training of employees to achieve high service delivery standards for Canadians;
  • Offset by decreases as a result of:
    • Transfers to the Canada Revenue Agency and Public Works and Government Services Canada for National Collection Services ($20.0 million);
    • The announcement of September 25, 2006 on Effective Spending related to Understanding the Early Years ($2.9 million); and
• A net decrease of $126.6 million in statutory payment authorities mostly related to:
  • a decrease of $376.2 million in the Old Age Security (OAS) forecast can be attributed to several factors. The average monthly rate of the Old Age Security pension for 2006-07 was less than forecasted due to a greater proportion of partial pensions. There was also an increase in the average number of monthly Old Age Security recipients. Lastly there was an increase in forecasted benefit repayment from higher-income Old Age Security recipients through the Old Age Security Recovery Tax.
  • a transfer of $18.5 million to the Canada Revenue Agency for the National Collection Services and Collection, Litigation and Advisory Services as a result of government restructuring;
  • offset by increases for:
    • Universal Child Care Benefits paid to Canadian families with young children ($174.4 million);
    • Guaranteed Income Supplement ($81.1 million) resulting from an increase in the forecasted average monthly rate. In 2006-2007, the average monthly Guaranteed Income Supplement rate was higher than estimated. This increase was partially offset by a decrease in the average forecasted number of monthly recipients;
    • Contributions to the Employee Benefit Plan ($4.5 million);
    • Allowance Payment ($4.1 million) which can be attributed to an increase in the forecasted average monthly rate of the benefit; and
    • Energy cost benefits ($3.7 million) which are one-time payments for energy costs incurred by low income seniors and families with children.

The actual consolidated expenditures of $60,070.7 million were $716.6 million lower than our total consolidated authorities of $60,787.3 million. The variance is largely explained by:

• A net operating lapse of $33.6 million resulting from $15.0 million in frozen resources such as the Canada Student Loans Program ($2.9 million) and year-end transfer price between salary and non-salary ($12.1 million) and $18.6 million in general lapse;
• A Grants and Contributions variance of $657.5 million including $648.6 million in frozen resources and $8.9 million in general lapse; and
• A decrease of $25.4 million in Special Purpose Accounts related to a decrease in administration costs recoverable from the Employment Insurance and the Canada Pension Plan accounts.

Table 7A: User Fees Act

Note: The Tables 7B for Policy on Service Standards for External Fees Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Policy on Service Standards for External Fees Social Development Canada can be found on line at:
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/est-pre/estime.asp.

Table 8: Progress Against the Department's Regulatory Plan

In order to reduce the volume of printed material, this table was not to be included in the printed Departmental Performance Report but can be found at:
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/est-pre/estime.asp

Table 9: Details on Transfers Payments Programs

Human Resources and Social Development Canada has a number of transfer payment programs. These programs support individuals, communities, labour, other governments and Aboriginal organizations. HRSDC is subject to the revised policy on transfer payments, which was introduced on June 1, 2000. That policy requires departments to report on those payment programs that are worth at least $5 million.

Note: Actual figures reflect program costs and exclude operating resources necessary to deliver the programs.

1. Youth Employment Strategy
2. Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy
3. Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnerships
4. Aboriginal Human Resources Development Program - the Joint Voisey's Bay Employment and Training Authority
5. Targeted Initiative for Older Workers
6. Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities
7. Sector Council Program
8. Foreign Credential Recognition Program
9. Apprenticeship Incentive Grant
10. Training Centre Infrastructure Fund
11. Workplace Skills Initiative
12. Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program
13. Canada Study Grant / Canada Access Grant
14. Canada Student Loans Program - Direct Financing Arrangement
15. Canada Student Loans Program - Interest Payments and Liabilities
16. Canada Student Loans Program - Liabilities
17. Canada Education Savings Program - Canada Education Savings Grant
18. Canada Education Savings Program, Canada Learning Bond
19. Social Development Partnerships Program
20. Guaranteed Income Supplement
21. Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities
22. New Horizons for Seniors Program
23. Old Age Security
24. Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities
25. Allowance
26. Early Learning and Child Care
27. Universal Child Care Benefit
28. National Homelessness Initiative

Further information on these Transfer Payments Programs can be found at:
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/est-pre/estime.asp

Table 10: Foundations (Conditional Grants)

During fiscal year 2006-2007, Human Resources and Social Development Canada was involved in the following Foundations.

1. Read to Me! Foundation Inc.
2. Peter Gzowski Foundation for Literacy
3. Canadian Council on Learning
4. The Winnipeg Foundation
5. The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation

Further information on these Foundations (Conditional Grants) can be found at
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/est-pre/estimE.asp