ARCHIVED - Government Response to the Twelfth Report of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance

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Recommendation 1

The processes of determining the budgets of the Officers of Parliament actively involve Parliamentarians through the Speakers of each House and an administrative committee before the budgets are submitted to the Treasury Board for inclusion in the Estimates.

Response

The Government agrees with the Committee's recommendation and is firmly committed to implementing a pilot project for a new funding and oversight mechanism for the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 Estimates process for Agents of Parliament.  Included in the pilot are the Offices of the: Auditor General of Canada, Chief Electoral Officer, Commissioner of Official Languages, Information Commissioner, Privacy Commissioner. 

The proposed new mechanism is intended to respect the degree of independence of Agents of Parliament, the role of Parliament in budget and oversight matters, and the responsibility of the Government for the sound stewardship of public resources. 

The Government's approach takes into consideration and is broadly consistent with the recommendations of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance as well as recommendations of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.  The approach also reflects the outcome of comprehensive consultations with the Agents of Parliament, Parliamentarians, and other experts.

Parliamentary control and supervision of expenditure of public money would be strengthened by a new provision for a parliamentary oversight panel (or equivalent).  The panel would be appointed by the Speakers of the Senate and the House of Commons, in consultation with the House Leaders, and would aim to promote economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the funding and oversight of Agents of Parliament. 

This parliamentary oversight panel would provide scrutiny of the Agents' financial plans, without compromising Agents' independence and autonomy from Government.  It would receive submissions from Agents during the fall period, which coincides with the usual Annual Reference Level Update process.  The Treasury Board Secretariat would provide, as input to a parliamentary oversight panel, the broad budgetary parameters as well as an assessment of the Agents' submissions.  Finally, the recommendations of the parliamentary oversight panel would be submitted by the Speakers to the Treasury Board for inclusion in the Estimates.  The same procedure would be followed for the Supplementary Estimates process.

The pilot responds to requests from the Agents of Parliament and Parliamentarians for greater Parliamentary oversight in the financial matters of the Agents and represents a significant change from the current funding and oversight mechanism.  The Government believes that this two-year pilot is a prudent approach to introducing potentially longer-term changes to the financial and oversight mechanism for Agents of Parliament. 

Over the coming weeks, the Government will work with Parliamentarians and Agents of Parliament to ensure successful implementation of the pilot. 

Recommendation 2

The appointment process for all Officers of Parliament be reviewed and streamlined and that Parliament be more engaged in their recruitment, approval and removal. 

Response

For the purposes of this paper the Senate considers Officers of Parliament to be:

• Auditor General
• Chief Electoral Officer
• Commissioner of Official Languages
• Information Commissioner
• Privacy Commissioner

Legislation, the Rules of the Senate, and the Standing Orders of the House of Commons ensure that Parliament has an appropriate role to play in the appointment of Agents of Parliament and is able to satisfy itself that the appointments are competency-based, professional and transparent.

The appointment process for these Agents of Parliament is appropriately streamlined, subject to differences, which reflect some variation in their relationships to Parliament. For three of the Agents of Parliament – the Information Commissioner, the Privacy Commissioner and the Commissioner of Official Languages – the requirements for appointment are essentially identical.  They differ for the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and the Auditor General, reflecting their different relationship with the executive and Parliament and its constituent houses.

The Chief Electoral Officer is appointed by resolution of the House of Commons and reports only to the House of Commons.  This reflects the fact that the Chief Electoral Officer is responsible for ensuring the integrity of the democratic process and carries out a function, which is intimately associated with the House of Commons, as the elected chamber of Parliament.

The Auditor General also reports only to the House of Commons.  This reflects the Auditor General's key role in supporting the House of Commons in its monitoring of the financial affairs of the Government.

Recruitment and appointment is a function of the Executive, subject to Parliamentary oversight.  For all of the Agents of Parliament, Parliament has the ability to review and/or approve their appointments and, therefore, to hold the Government to account for its exercise of executive authority.  Under Standing Order 111.1, the House of Commons can review the proposed appointments of all five Agents of Parliament.  In addition, for three of the Agents – Information Commissioner, the Privacy Commissioner and the Commissioner of Official Languages – the Senate and the House of Commons must approve of their appointments by resolution.  

Finally all of these Agents of Parliament can only be removed on address of the Senate and the House of Commons.  With the exception of the CEO, removal is by the Governor in Council on address of the Senate and House of Commons.  The CEO can only be removed by the Governor General on address of the Senate and the House of Commons.