Report on the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Total Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences in the 2016-2017 Fiscal Year
The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) supports Treasury Board ministers in strengthening the way government is managed to better serve Canadians and ensure value for money in government spending. In order to fulfill this mandate, TBS incurs expenditures for travel, hospitality and conferences to:
- implement key government initiatives
- attend and present at national and international forums related to TBS’s mandate
- recruit and provide professional development to functional communities (such as internal auditors and financial officers)
- implement new policies and horizontal initiatives
In addition, as the employer for the government, TBS incurs expenditures for travel and related items for labour management meetings with bargaining agents and other stakeholders, as well as with regard to human resources litigation and hearings.
Total annual TBS expenditures for travel, hospitality and conferences for the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year and the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year are summarized in Table 1.
Expenditure category |
Expenditures for the year ending |
Expenditures for the year ending |
Variance between fiscal years |
|---|---|---|---|
Travel: public servants |
$1,239,168 |
$1,036,898 |
$202,270 |
Travel: non-public servants |
$317,015 |
$150,048 |
$166,967 |
International travel by the Minister and the Minister’s staff |
$53,462 |
$8,287 |
$45,175 |
Total travel |
$1,609,645 |
$1,195,233 |
$414,412 |
| Hospitality | $102,076 |
$98,491 |
$3,584 |
| Conference fees | $36,496 |
$31,435 |
$5,061 |
Totals |
$1,748,217 |
$1,325,159 |
$423,057 |
Compared with the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year, there was an overall increase of 32% in expenditures for travel, hospitality and conferences in 2016 to 2017 fiscal year. This was largely because of an increase in travel for public servants and non-public servants, and to a lesser extent an increase in international travel by the Minister and the Minister’s staff.
Travel
Public servants: Compared with the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year, there was an increase of $202,270 in departmental travel expenditures for public servants. This increase was primarily because of the following:
Travel expenditures of $64,000 incurred by the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), which was transferred from the Privy Council Office to TBS in the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year in order to consolidate all central regulatory policy functions of the Government of Canada. The RCC brings together Canadian and US departments that have health, safety and environmental protection mandates to:
- foster the alignment of regulatory systems between the two countries
- enhance economic competitiveness while maintaining high levels of protection for health, safety and the environment
Travel expenditures were incurred primarily to participate in a 2-day event in Washington, DC, as part of the US-Canada RCC annual meetings for stakeholders and senior officials.
Travel expenditures for the Office of the Comptroller General increased by $61,884 primarily because of the Financial Management Sector’s role in promoting and applying best practices in cost estimation processes, recruitment and professional development, including talent management programs for the next generation of chief financial officers and chief audit executives. Such programs are a key priority of the Comptroller General of Canada.
Travel expenditures for the Legal Services Sector increased by $24,152 compared with the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year, primarily because of the higher number of legal proceedings in the western provinces and in the regions of Quebec.
Non-public servants: Compared with the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year, departmental travel expenditures for non-public servants increased by $166,967. This increase was primarily because of the engagement of specialized expertise not available locally in the National Capital Region to work on the Enterprise-Wide Financial Management Transformation component of the Enabling Functions Transformation Initiative, which aims to standardize and streamline the Government of Canada’s corporate administrative business processes, services and systems.
Minister and Minister’s staff: International travel expenditures by the President of TBS and his staff increased by $45,175 compared with the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year primarily because of increased costs related to international travel to attend events such as:
- the National Governors Association in Washington, DC
- the Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Paris, France
- the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
Hospitality
Compared with the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year, there was no significant variance in departmental expenditures for hospitality in the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year, which increased by $3,584.
Conference fees
Compared with the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year, there was no significant variance in departmental expenditures for conference fees in the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year, which increased by $5,061.