Canada's Performance Report 2007-08: The Government of Canada's Contribution

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5 - Government Affairs

Context

The Government of Canada works to ensure that the business of government is managed in a sound, accountable, and integrated manner. Various measures, legislated initiatives, and activities are underway to modernize administrative operations in the government—to put in place the management policies, practices, and tools that enable collaboration and contribute to well managed and accountable government affairs.

There are many ways in which federal organizations that contribute to Government Affairs help other government departments and agencies meet their responsibilities, deliver on their core mandates, serve Canadians better, and ultimately contribute to the 13 Government of Canada outcome areas. For example, the organizations:

• facilitate the delivery of a multitude of government services to Canadians, making it easier for individuals, organizations, and businesses to successfully interact with the government;
• provide advice and support to the prime minister, Cabinet, and Cabinet committees;
• help maintain and enforce a rigorous stewardship of public resources;
• offer information technology, telecommunications, research, translation, or auditing services to other federal departments and agencies;
• foster and sustain modern, effective, results-driven management and leadership across the public service;
• provide advisory, litigation, and legislative services to the government and facilitate citizen access to the judicial system;
• purchase goods and services, from office supplies to expert advisory services to military uniforms; and
• safeguard and foster the integrity, political neutrality, and representativeness of the public service through audits, reviews, and investigations conducted according to the values of fairness, access, and transparency.

The Government of Canada's expenditures for Government Affairs

In 2007–08, the following 31 federal organizations spent $13.4 billion in the area of Government Affairs:

• Canada Post Corporation
• Canada Public Service Agency
• Canada Revenue Agency
• Canada School of Public Service
• Canadian Forces Grievance Board
• Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat
• Courts Administration Service
• Department of Finance Canada
• Department of Justice Canada
• First Nations Statistical Institute
• Governor General, Department
• House of Commons
• Human Resources and Social Development Canada
• Library of Parliament
• Office of the Auditor General of Canada
• Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs
• Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
• Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists
• Privy Council Office
• Public Appointments Commission Secretariat
• Public Sector Integrity Canada
• Public Service Commission of Canada
• Public Service Labour Relations Board
• Public Service Staffing Tribunal
• Public Works and Government Services Canada
• RCMP External Review Committee
• Senate Ethics Officer
• Statistics Canada
• Supreme Court of Canada
• The Senate
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Figure 5.1—Distribution of actual spending by federal organization in Government Affairs ($13.4 billion) for fiscal year 2007–08

Figure 5.1 - Text version

The Canada Revenue Agency, Human Resources and Social Development Canada, and Public Works and Government Services Canada are the federal organizations that contribute the largest amounts, through the delivery of programs and services, to the Government Affairs spending area.

The Canada Revenue Agency spent approximately $4 billion in this spending area, primarily for initiatives that ensure Canadians meet their tax obligations in order to protect Canada's revenue base. Canada's revenue base provides the funding necessary to meet Canada's social and economic objectives. This funding was also used to administer and deliver benefit payments to Canadian families and individuals.

Human Resources and Social Development Canada contributed approximately $2.4 billion to this spending area, primarily for the provision of programs and services to Canadians through Service Canada. This increase from 2006–07 actual spending is accounted for by Common Experience Payments—a trust account established in 2007–08 for the one-time compensation of former residents of Indian Residential Schools.

Public Works and Government Services Canada also contributed a significant amount to Government Affairs, totalling nearly $2.3 billion. This funding was used for overseeing the sound management of central services provided to federal organizations across government.

Approximately $1.9 billion was spent by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat on programs and initiatives that assure the government is well managed (through policy development and oversight), is accountable, and is allocating resources to achieve results.

Public service renewal

The public service of Canada is the nation's largest employer, with 255,000 core federal public service employees. However, it faces significant challenges associated with an aging workforce and increasingly competitive labour markets. To address these challenges, federal organizations are committed to public service renewal and ensuring that a highly competent, non-partisan public service is able to support the government in the delivery of programs and services to Canadians. Key elements that continue to drive the advancement of public service renewal include the following:

• human resources planning to understand future requirements, over the short and long term;
• better recruitment to renew and sustain capacity at all levels;
• investing in people and leadership through training and development; and
• enabling human resources infrastructure through efficient and user-friendly processes that support interdepartmental recruitment, development, and planning.

Recruiting the best possible talent to the public service is indispensable to its long-term capacity to serve Canadians with excellence. Between replacing retirees and responding to increased demands in such areas as security and health, approximately 12,000 to 15,000 new employees have been recruited each year since 2000.

The Canada School of Public Service contributes to public service renewal by seeking ways to ensure that the public service develops strong leaders, capable of achieving results for Canadians. In turn, the Canada Public Service Agency strives to modernize and foster continuing excellence in people management and leadership across the federal government. The Public Service Commission of Canada, for its part, is responsible for safeguarding the integrity of staffing in the public service and the political impartiality of public service employees.

In addition, several departments and agencies address labour relations issues, including the Public Service Labour Relations Board, the RCMP External Review Committee, the Canadian Forces Grievance Board, and the Public Service Staffing Tribunal.

Support for effective and efficient management and accountability

Ensuring that Canadians are served in a responsive, efficient, and consistent manner demands that the government be well managed and has the capacity to develop and deliver innovative solutions to the complex problems of the 21st century. The government must continually work to leverage information and manage resources and relationships in ways that deliver results for Canadians. In turn, the government must be accountable to Parliament and citizens and demonstrate that its programs and expenditures are achieving public value in an efficient and effective manner.

Effective stewardship safeguards the public trust by ensuring that the government carries out its work according to high standards of accountability, transparency, prudence, integrity, consistency, and fairness. Public Works and Government Services Canada plays a significant role in the stewardship of government assets, including physical infrastructure and such programs as public service pay and pensions.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat also supports stewardship and accountability by performing three key central agency functions:

• an oversight role, which includes setting policies and standards, monitoring, and reporting on overall management and budgetary performance within government;
• an enabling role, which helps departments and agencies improve management performance across government; and
• a leadership role, which, in leading by example, advances an integrated management agenda.

Other organizations that contribute to public sector management and accountability include the Privy Council Office, the Canada Public Service Agency, the Department of Justice Canada, Library and Archives Canada, and the Department of Finance Canada.

Effective and efficient client-focussed services and internal operations through service transformation

Improving service delivery to citizens has been a cornerstone of many modern management reforms in the public sector. Canada's federal government has been a world leader in pursuing client-centred initiatives that improve access to services, program outcomes, and delivery efficiency. The key to client-centred service is a government that has the capacity, knowledge, and competency to respond to the needs of the Canadian public and that delivers results in a fair and timely manner through the right combination of readily available services.

Public Works and Government Services Canada supports the daily operations of more than 100 federal departments and agencies and provides innovative common services to the government, including the following:

• purchasing goods and services on behalf of the government—everything from vehicles to office supplies to military uniforms;
• banking, which also involves making payments for and receiving payments to the Government of Canada, and preparing the Public Accounts of Canada through the Receiver General;
• office accommodations for public service employees across Canada;
• management of national heritage properties, such as the Parliament buildings in Ottawa; and
• information technology, telecommunications, translation, auditing, and many other important services.

In 2007–08, the Canada Revenue Agency introduced significant operational efficiencies in the administration of corporate taxes through the Strengthening Business through a Simpler Tax System Act, 2007, which allows the Agency to begin administering Ontario corporate taxes for taxation years ending after 2008. Through the Act, the Canada Revenue Agency will administer both provincial and federal taxes collected from Ontario businesses, as it already does in most other provinces and territories. Companies of all sizes will benefit from a single tax return, a single tax collector, and one set of income tax rules. Ontario businesses estimate savings of up to $100 million per year in administrative costs. This harmonization not only provides for better service to Ontario businesses but reflects more efficient government operations through federal-provincial collaboration.

Service transformation initiatives

Service transformation fundamentally changes how government services are designed and delivered within its organizations. It enhances internal operations so that public service employees can carry out their duties more efficiently and effectively, resulting in improved delivery of services to Canadians and businesses. Service transformation initiatives are typically devised to make service more client-focussed, increase service satisfaction, improve administrative and operational efficiency, and achieve better program outcomes—results that demonstrate value-for-money.

Service Canada not only delivers numerous federal government services, including benefit payments, the issuance of social insurance numbers and passport applications, and the posting of job ads, but also seeks to improve service delivery procedures. For example, Service Canada provides clients with comprehensive information on and access to programs, services, and benefits administered by other federal organizations, with choice in the ways those services can be accessed, and with respectful and responsive individual service.

Each year, by using its technology to deliver tax-related programs and services on behalf of provincial, territorial, and federal government departments, the Canada Revenue Agency reduces administrative and processing duplication, which helps reduce the overall cost of government services. The Agency also enhances convenience for Canadians by providing electronic access to multiple tax-related programs and services. For example, improvements made in 2007 to the My Business Account portal on its website earned the Agency a national award from the Government Technology Exhibition and Conference for better serving the needs of business owners.

Public Works and Government Services Canada has been leading key transformation initiatives in the areas of real property, procurement, and shared information technology services. Such initiatives target critical areas of the government's operational infrastructure, help improve the ways in which departments and agencies deliver their services to Canadians, and ensure quality services are delivered quickly, intelligently, and economically.

Greening of government operations

The government has made the greening of government operations and of construction priorities, ensuring that new and existing office buildings are 30 per cent more energy efficient than the Model National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings.

Legal services to support government operations

To support the ongoing operations of government, the Department of Justice Canada provides legal advice, drafts legislation, and prepares legal documents for federal government departments and agencies. The Department also litigates civil cases and works to ensure that the national legal framework reflects both Canada's linguistic duality and its common and civil law traditions.

During 2007–08, the Department of Justice Canada supported the government in pursuing a comprehensive legislative agenda, resulting in the tabling of 63 bills in the House of Commons and the publication of 474 regulations in the Canada Gazette. The Department also provided legal policy advice on a broad range of files related to such diverse subjects as protecting Canadian sovereignty, enhancing border security, protecting the integrity of the food supply chain, and the implications of spending and taxation measures. As well, the Department successfully represented the Crown's interests in several major court cases representing significant potential liabilities to the Government of Canada valued in the billions of dollars.

Support for justice and legal programming

Canadians have access to a fair and independent judicial system through the activities and services of various federal organizations. Foremost among them is the Department of Justice Canada, which seeks to protect the integrity of the Canadian legal framework by upholding the laws that define the rights of Canadians, keep Canadians safe, and regulate the economy. In support of access to justice, the Department contributed $119.8 million in funding to assist the provinces and territories in the delivery of their criminal legal aid programs.

As the final court of appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada processes hearings and makes decisions on legal matters for Canadian citizens and residents. It serves Canadians by leading the development of common and civil law through its decisions on questions of public importance. The Supreme Court of Canada also ensures that citizens, the media, and members of the legal community have access to information about the workings and decisions of the Court. In 2007, a total of 618 cases were filed with the Supreme Court of Canada, which represents a nearly 20-per-cent increase over the number of cases filed in 2006 (513).

In addition, the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs helps ensure an independent and efficient federal judiciary, while the Courts Administration Service ensures that the public has effective, timely, and fair access to the litigation processes of the Federal Court of Appeal, the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada, and the Tax Court of Canada.

Support for Parliament and the Governor General of Canada

Each year, funds are appropriated to support the work of Canada's Parliament, which consists of the Queen (the Head of State), represented by the Governor General, the appointed Senate, and the elected House of Commons. These funds provide Senators and parliamentarians with administrative and professional assistance to support them in performing their legislative, representative, and oversight roles and responsibilities.

The Senate Administration and the House of Commons Administration are responsible for the following:

• procedural and legal services for legislative and committee work;
• administrative services;
• precinct services, including security, architectural planning, and building support and maintenance; and
• the Library of Parliament, which responds to daily requests for information and reference services from offices of members of Parliament, parliamentary committees and associations, and parliamentary officials. In 2007–08, the Library of Parliament responded to over 50,000 requests for information and distributed almost 300,000 documents to citizens.

Parliamentarians are also supported in their work by Agents of Parliament, such as the Auditor General of Canada, the Chief Electoral Officer, the Official Languages Commissioner, the Privacy Commissioner, the Access to Information Commissioner, and the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.

Collection and dissemination of information

In Canada, providing statistics is a constitutional responsibility of the federal government. As Canada's central statistical agency, Statistics Canada collects, compiles, analyzes, and publishes statistical information on the economic, social, and general conditions of the country and its citizens for the whole of Canada and each of the provinces. The statistical information provided by Statistics Canada is used for many purposes, such as economic analysis, fiscal policy development, electoral boundary development, and assessment of the effectiveness of the health and judicial systems.

These activities ensure that Canadians and their elected representatives are provided with objective information on the evolution of the Canadian economy, society, and environment. Data provided by Statistics Canada are also used by businesses, unions, and non-profit organizations to make informed decisions.

Record keeping is a keystone of accountability to citizens and improving its effectiveness ensures that records, whether paper or electronic, with business or archival value are kept and made readily available to Canadians. Library and Archives Canada is responsible for providing advice and guidance to departments and agencies on the management of records and is authorized to control the disposition of records within government institutions.

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