:
I'm Jill Ronan, compensation and team leader with DND and also a member of the Association of Compensation Advisors.
I'd like to start by saying good morning, Madam Chair and honourable members. We'd like to thank you for allowing us the opportunity to address you again today on the issues facing the compensation community in the federal public service.
We want to applaud this committee for the progress that has taken place to date as a direct result of this committee's attention to our issues. It was very apparent in the standing committee held on December 12, 2007, with the Canadian Public Service Agency that our employer has taken a proactive approach to moving forward with resolutions in some areas. While we applaud this progress, we have some areas of concern that require the attention and action on the part of our employer.
In order to keep our presentation as streamlined as possible and to ensure we do not inundate you with information overload, we have broken the issues into three key areas that were addressed by CPSA on December 12. They are capacit-building, technology and service delivery model, and the classification of the compensation adviser positions.
I would like to now introduce Michael Brandimore. He will present on the first issue, capacity-building.
:
Good morning. I'm Michael Brandimore. Madam Chair, honourable members, I would like to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to address you yet again on these issues.
What we derive from the presentation and discussion is that the mandate of the capacity-building group within CPSA is to recruit future compensation advisers and develop a national training program. The recruitment mandate certainly does not appear to be an issue, considering that 5,800 applicants were received. This resulted in 109 positions being filled as of this date. Out of these 109 new recruits, 60 were recruited and employed in the Department of Public Works, which would indicate that 49 went to other core departments.
It was further stated that statistics show that another 100 will be retiring from the public service in the next five years.
Our concern with these statistics is that they do not appear to include departures for other reasons, such as moving to other positions within the public service or promotions. This would definitely increase the numbers to be taken into account for human resource planning.
While this is encouraging, it does not in any way address the issue of retention. It has historically been shown that even in the best of circumstances the trainee programs result in up to 50% of trainees either failing the training program or departing for other positions. The real issue of concern is one of retention, and unless the issue of classification is resolved, shortages will continue to impede the success of any capacity-building initiative developed.
Again, although we applaud this capacity-building initiative, as Mr. Kramp so astutely pointed out on December 12, given that it takes up to two years to train these newly recruited compensation trainees, how could this dramatic improvement be attributed to them? Madame Bourgeois responded by stating, “We have a very dedicated community who have agreed to do overtime to resolve the issues.” And there are retirees who have agreed to come back to assist.
While we agree with Madame Bourgeois' statement, this has to be recognized as a very short-term initiative and not a two-year resolution while the trainees attain the required skills to fulfill the full functions. We're already seeing an increase in burnout situations at work, which is counterproductive, as it means we will lose skilled compensation advisers for yet another reason.
We also have some concerns with the statistics on the backlog within the core departments. As compensation advisers, we deal interdepartmentally on a constant basis, and many of the compensation advisers have stated that they were never asked to provide statistics and still have a fair-sized backlog they are dealing with.
We agree that these types of statistics are crucial to establishing that there are backlogs. However, unless these stats are as factual as possible, they can be more harmful than helpful.
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We applaud our employer for the efforts being made to develop, first, systems that will streamline the transactional portion of our functions and, second, self-serve systems for managers and employees. What concerns us is the timing and the impact it will have on our positions.
Madame Jolicoeur clearly states that the current pay system is very limited in automation, and that, while Public Works Canada is continuing to work on the pay modernization project, the project approval has yet to be given. This community has been waiting for this new system for over a decade, and it would appear that it could take another decade to come to fruition.
Even if managers and employees have the capacity to enter transactions, they will require the verification of the compensation advisers to ensure accuracy prior to being processed through the pay system for payments. Pension modernization forms approximately 18% of the current functions of a compensation adviser. To state that all pension functions are being reallocated to a centralized pension team is somewhat misleading. The compensation adviser will still be responsible for commencing pension contribution, making changes, paying severance pay, and providing research documentation through the pension division to ensure that accurate benefits are received.
While it could be argued that these are pay-related functions, the relativity between pay and pension benefits is the reason that years ago these functions were developed from superannuation. Compensation advisers should still be trained in pension-related functions to understand the impact that pay administration has on the pension administration.
Technology provides tools that can streamline our work, but in no way can it address 70,000 rules and regulations coming from legislation, Treasury Board, unions, etc. It would appear that a decrease in the transactional portion of some of our functions would be offset by the increase in the advisory portion of our functions. There is no easy button in compensation benefits.
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I'd like to present on the third key issue, classification.
As you can imagine, this is an issue that is near and dear to our community. The history of attempting to have these positions classified at an appropriate group and level was provided to your committee at the standing committee meeting in June 2007, and we do not want to take up your valuable time going over all of that. What we want to do is address the issues that were brought forth by CPSA at the December 12 meeting.
The key point that was made during that meeting is that Treasury Board has an agreement with the union, PSAC, to look at the PA group, program administration group, as a whole in respect to classification and not subgroups, and further, that technology and service delivery model may have an impact on our functions. PSAC has made it clear to our employer with the submission of the AS round table report that they do not agree that our group can wait until the PA group is resolved as a whole. In fact, they recommend immediate reclassification to the AS-4 level for our group. All evidence provided during the December 12, 2007, meeting indicated there are no clear timeframes on when technology and service delivery models will change the functions of the compensation advisers significantly.
Technology service delivery will address workload, and not the complexities of these positions. Workload is not a factor rated in our current classification system. These are the same arguments that were put forth by our employer four years ago, and they are still being used today. Classification of positions is based on the duties of your current position, not on what they will be four, five, ten years down the road.
The issue of separate employers, in which CSIS was used as an example, clearly shows the wage disparity within the public service for compensation advisers performing the same functions. This is a classic example of pay inequity. The human rights principle is that work of equal value should have pay of equal value. Our employer's response to this is that the separate employer has a different classification system and rating system, and therefore that is apt. This is completely illogical to us. It is almost saying that these separate employers' new classification systems cannot possibly be as accurate as Treasury Board's 40-plus-year antiquated classification system. The bottom line is, they have developed a classification system that recognizes the complexity of the compensation advisers today.
The salary difference is approximately $14,000, which would actually closely align our wage to that of the AS-4 group level within Treasury Board, which is what our union has recommended Treasury Board do immediately.
So if our union is willing to adjust the agreement they have made with our employer in regard to our group, and if separate employers have been able to capture the complexities of our functions, why is our employer not willing to act upon the recommendations that have been put forth?
In a statement referring to the classification history of the compensation adviser positions on page 15 of the minutes on the 12th of December, Madame Boudrias stated the following: “They”--referring to Treasury Board compensation advisers--“were all reclassified at the same time, because if we did not do that, you can imagine the issue we would have in terms of people moving from a department to another one to have a better job or a promotion or better salary level.”
That is in fact what is happening. Our most skilled compensation advisers are moving to places like CSIS and CSE, where the salaries are far better.
In a nutshell, our employer has stated two main impediments to dealing with the classification issues of our positions: the agreement they have with our union, and the impact technology service delivery will have on our job descriptions.
The union has removed the first impediment by recommending that the employer reclassify these positions to the AS-4 level immediately. And in regard to the changes that may occur in our job descriptions as a result of technology service delivery, they have not come to fruition over the last four years, and based on the evidence provided there's no clear timeframe on when they will. The complexity, responsibility, intellectual effort, and demands required of our functions are neither properly recognized nor compensated. This is a major component as to why there are staff shortages, backlog, and retention problems. The development, recruitment, and, most importantly, the retention issues will not be successful unless the classification issue is resolved.
We are respectfully requesting that this committee continue to exert their influence, to have the President of Treasury Board work with the Canada Public Service Agency and the Public Service Alliance of Canada to resolve the classification issue of the compensation advisers' positions within the federal public service.
In closing, we would like once again to thank the chair and the honourable members for their continued efforts on our behalf.
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'm Patty Ducharme. I'm the national executive vice-president of the PSAC. The Public Service Alliance of Canada is a union that represents the pay compensation advisers who work for the Government of Canada, making sure that your staff, the public servants of Canada, are all paid in a timely fashion.
I want to thank the chair and the members of the committee for inviting us to appear before you today on issues facing the compensation system in the federal government. As the national executive vice-president of the PSAC, I'm particularly pleased and proud to appear here alongside our members who directly deliver compensation services for the federal government.
I want to reinforce comments that were made by the employer when they appeared before you on December 12, 2007. The compensation system relies on an extremely dedicated and committed group of federal workers. Day in and day out the 1,400 PSAC members who perform these duties show their determination to do a difficult job under extremely difficult circumstances.
A further indication of their dedication and determination is the willingness of these members to take the time to come before you today and present their detailed understanding of the problems the government is having paying people on time. I want to draw the committee members' attention as well to the gallery. The gallery is filled with PSAC members who are compensation advisers in government departments, and they're here supporting representatives of their community and their union. This is a very significant issue for this community.
As the union representing these dedicated public service workers, I want to emphasize that we share their frustration at the failure of the employer to adequately address the problems facing the compensation community. Yes, it is positive that government has a number of initiatives under way, under areas such as training, recruitment, and technological improvements, but their own consultation process with managers and front-line workers recognizes that there are classification problems underlying the problems facing this community. We have found that the employer is completely unwilling to work with the union in addressing the classification issues for this group.
We had a consultation session last June with the Canada Public Service Agency to talk about the issues affecting this community, where agency officials clearly laid out a number of positive capacity-building initiatives, but the representatives had virtually no mandate to discuss the issue of classification.
Last summer we followed up with a letter to Rick Burton, the vice-president of the CPSA, asking to meet on the specific issue of classification, and he was unwilling to do so.
Earlier this month we wrote to Nicole Jauvin, the president of CPSA, once again asking for a willingness from the employer to sit down and come up with an interim solution to address the retention problems that come from classification of the compensation advisers at the AS-2 level. We still don't have an answer from Madame Jauvin, but I expect we will get the same one Madame Boudrias gave this committee in December. In response to a question from MP Mark Holland about the employer's willingness to undertake short-term measures to address the classification issues, she replied: “So we have an agreement with PSAC that we will be looking at the entire PA group.”
She asserted, as has Rick Burton before her, that the broader PA reform project is the solution to the AS classification problem. We need to be clear. The agreement about undertaking a classification review exercise for the PA group was something first announced by the employer on May 8, 2002. This was not negotiated with the PSAC. The employer believes it has a unilateral right to classify and has never agreed with any bargaining agent to jointly develop a classification standard in the federal public service.
In April 2006 the PSAC, Treasury Board, and PSHRMAC did agree to issue a joint statement indicating their willingness to commit to the project of classification reform for the PA group. Specifically, that agreement involved commitment to a first phase of six to eight months, during which our respective representatives would meet to map out a process and timeline for a new PA standard.
The first phase never occurred. More than 20 months have passed since the PSAC and the employer signed that joint statement. Madame Boudrias more or less admitted this when she said to you last month that the work hadn't yet been started.
In our view, it is quite unacceptable for the employer to hold out the PA classification reform as a solution to the classification issue that underlies the problem facing the AS compensation advisers. There is no evidence the employer has invested the kinds of resources and energy needed to achieve PA reform in the short term, and the problem facing the AS compensation advisers is an immediate and urgent one.
Interestingly, while telling you last month that the PA classification reform is a solution to the AS problem, later in her testimony Madame Boudrias said, and I quote, “We won't wait for the big review of the PA group to do something”, suggesting that perhaps they are prepared to take an interim step. This is positive, but as yet there is no evidence from any of the contact between CPSA and PSAC that they are willing to work together on a solution, what they might be considering, and what kind of timeline they're actually considering.
In the meantime, the problems the government is having paying people on time continues. There was an article in La Presse about a situation at the Shawinigan tax centre where 200 federal public sector workers, your employees, were facing problems in getting paid in a timely fashion.
The fact that many separate employers have found ways of reclassifying compensation advisers and paying them at significantly higher rates is an indication of the need for a short-term solution. It is also an indication of a further retention problem that the Treasury Board and the CPSA will face. Unless they act now to close the gap, Treasury Board will lose even more valuable compensation advisers to these separate employers.
In closing, I would like to once again thank the members of the committee for giving attention to the issues facing the compensation community. We'd be happy to answer any questions you have, which may help you in your future deliberations.
Thank you to the witnesses. Thank you as well to the compensation advisers who are gathered here today, not only for your presence but also collectively for all the work you do on behalf of Canadians and the public service.
Obviously I'm very concerned, both by this issue and also the ramifications of it for people being paid on time. What I'm hearing today is a lot of frustration. There's a sense you're simply not being heard, and things that should logically be dealt with are not. Certainly I think it'd be fair to characterize this as at an impasse; you really don't feel your issues are being heard.
In my opinion, we almost heard two parallel conversations. On the one hand, we heard from Treasury Board, which felt these issues were being moved forward or there was common ground. We're hearing today, I think, this isn't the case. I'm summarizing and I'm seeing nodding heads, so that would be correct.
Let me start by what this committee can do. What would you like to see this committee do in the way of recommendations, actions on this to help bridge this impasse? Ideally, as you come before us today, what are the actions you would hope the committee would undertake?
:
I can give you an example. I am an Industry Canada employee. I have been working at Statistics Canada since October 2006, and I still am. There are four of us helping them out. It is just chaos over there. Of course they're not talking about that in the newspapers, but they're so backlogged it is unbelievable. We are still answering e-mails that employees have sent to the compensation unit going back to 2006. We are doing pension estimates. We are doing elective service for people who want to buy back service. They are short-staffed.
Of course they're losing fully trained compensation advisers who are going to agencies that pay more for the same type of work. They've been replaced. For example, if I give you eight compensation advisers, fully trained, they will receive eight trainees from this new trainee job bank. Well, they have no experience at all. For the ones who are still there, they're stuck doing their own work and having to train at the same time. It's not helping them at all. I wish some of them could have been here today, but they are so backlogged that not one person was able to attend. That's just an example. I know for Public Works, even though they say they're fully up to date, they are not. We've been speaking to many compensation advisers.
Each department still has the same problem of transfers within different departments. Of course transfers in the compensation unit are not what we call an emergency. An emergency is putting somebody on payroll, or if somebody is retiring we have to cut them off pay. These are what we call emergencies. For them, transfers are not an emergency, but the impact is so much that it impacts their taxes and their deductions. There is a big impact.
Some of them are transferring to other departments with a promotion, but we can't do the promotion. We can't do anything until those transfers are done. We're all waiting for answers from all these different departments, the compensation unit, to be able to do the transfer, but they're so backlogged this is not their priority.
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning, ladies and gentleman. I'm pleased to see you.
In December, we heard from people who told us that they had an action plan to solve the compensation problems and that that action plan had two components. The first component concerned the professional community, and the second focused on the infrastructure of all computer systems and so on. I'd like to have some fairly brief answers.
First, I'd like to know whether each of the components has been affected since the government seemed to want to attempt to solve the problem. In other words, have we resolved part of the question of the consolidation of the community of human resources professionals? And are we solving the infrastructure problem?
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to each of the witnesses for being here. I don't question for one minute your dedication to your job and to the people you represent. So thank you for that.
My understanding is that, clearly, the classification issue is the primary concern you're coming with today. I also understand that you've been working on this since at least 2000, if not earlier, and we still don't seem to have come up with a remedy.
For me, as a new member in this Parliament, it would have been helpful to have some of your submissions written today, because, as you indicated, it's very complex, and it's even more complex for someone like me who doesn't--
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'd like to thank everyone who has come for your presence here and for taking an interest in this.
I think my wife thinks political life is dubious at the best of times, and I don't know if my colleagues would want to give you the same level of support, but I personally hold you responsible for me being able to keep selling political life to my wife, because the cheque does come in on a regular basis. You do yeoman's service on that front.
I am concerned, however, by what I've heard this morning, particularly what I'm hearing on the example in Industry Canada, where we have a two-year backlog of people getting back to issues on pensions--
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
This is my second meeting, but it's the first time I have spoken. I worked at the Canadian Human Rights Commission. I was there in 1989-1990, when the complaint was filed, and I looked into this matter, since I was working in the Secretary General's office. I knew the public service until 1993: the reorganizations, the position equivalencies, the general positions. So I understand your dissatisfaction.
I remember that I understood nothing about my T4 slips, when tax time came, or about the amended T4s that I received later. So I pity the Revenue Canada officer who had to examine those documents, because it must have been hell for him. I also felt a great deal of frustration. I was very active in union business in the public service. I remember some situations where the government representatives arrived at the bargaining tables without a mandate. That's frustrating because the research and the work were done, but the members were penalized. So I'm happy to be sitting on this committee and to be addressing this question in full knowledge of the facts.
I'd like to ask a question related to the news. You said that you had been in negotiations with the government since 2000. In my experience, you could go back even further, since history seems to repeat itself.
Since 2000, have you always been negotiating with the same officials? If not, with whom did you start those negotiations?
:
Thank you, Madam Chair, and welcome back to our guests, regretfully.
From your previous appearances here, together with representation from the Public Works Commission, Madam Barrados, etc., I am deeply concerned with the statements that we're hearing today, not because I don't agree with them but because we have such an obvious difference in testimony given on behalf of the Public Works Commission, on behalf of Madam Barrados, and on behalf of the union.
This really is a serious problem. We hear in the evidence just given to Mr. Angus that we have people going two years without responses, whether to queries or whatever. This is not only unacceptable, it's intolerable.
We, as a government, cannot operate under such a standard. I'm deeply concerned, and I'm concerned that somebody is misleading this committee. I'll just put it gently: we have been told we don't have a problem; we have been told we do have a problem. So I think you can see the position this committee finds itself in.
I am not content, as a member of this committee, to see this go on in perpetuity, to see a long-standing problem carry on. This has to come to a head. I think this committee has a responsibility to bring this to a head ASAP. There are a lot of questions. I have just a ton of questions, some that would be supportive of various positions both pro and con, and I think others have many questions as well.
I was once an employer of well over a thousand people, and I recognize that it costs much more to train an individual than it does to retain one. It's much more cost-effective for everyone involved and much more productive. That should be almost a truism, but apparently it is not. This is just not acceptable.
On the other side, we don't seem to have enough information to make the comparisons we need. Are other provinces going through this with their public services? Are other countries with similar procedures, similar democracies, going through the same situation?
I don't think we have adequate bases for comparison. Is this problem isolated? Is this just a Canadian federal government problem, or does it exist beyond us? What are some of the solutions? Whether or not it exists beyond these doors, we have a responsibility to ensure that we do not carry on this way.
I brought up this question before in committee. We have institutions and private companies with hundreds of thousands of employees, like banks. Do they have the same situation? Why or why not? They might not have the complexity or the turnover. There is no direct comparison. I understand these realities, but there could be lessons both ways that we could learn.
I think this study and your appearance before this committee is absolutely valuable. It's treasured, and I think the committee should make it not only a part of its record but also a part of its direction. Madam Chair, to your credit, this has been your hobby-horse for quite a while, but we have talked at length about this issue without coming to a resolution.
I would like to see this committee recognize this as a serious priority. We should devote some time to it and and come up with some recommendations. When we have an absolute contradiction, we have to hear back from some of our witnesses. We cannot have misleading statements, ignorant statements, or uninformed statements. The yin and yang aren't where they should be here.
That's not acceptable. I realize that I have not asked you a ton of questions, but I was here when you made representation to committee before, and it is disturbing to hear that the same problems persist without improvement.
I'll let my colleague finish out my time.
I bring forward a motion, and I'll be brief. I'm looking for a single meeting to explore this issue, as there are a number of different concerns.
We're talking first about the light rail project. At the time there were ten separate projects that also had memorandums of understanding. Only this project was singled out, and it was done so during a municipal election. What is key here is that there was a confidentiality agreement between the government and Siemens with respect to this project. The now Minister of the Environment, the then President of the Treasury Board, leaked the contacts after obtaining a copy of the LRT contract between the City of Ottawa and Siemens PCL/Dufferin. He leaked the package to the media and misrepresented its contents. Clearly this had a major impact on the municipal election.
The concern is that the minister not only used his position to influence the outcome of a municipal election but misrepresented a contract and may have in fact violated the terms of a confidentiality agreement. So I think it's important that we examine those issues and that we find out exactly what happened and what role was played to influence the outcome of that election. That's the reason for having the motion before the committee today.
Madame Folco has a small amendment, just to focus the witness list a little bit, because it was a little general in the motion.
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
The amendment I'm moving makes no change to the spirit of my colleague Mr. Holland's motion, but it suggests that a limited number of persons be called to testify, so that we can go quite quickly to the heart of the matter. I'm making no change to the first paragraph so I'll move immediately to the second, which reads as follows:
That this Committee hold one meeting, with a possibility of more should the committee deem it necessary, to hear witnesses including [...]
I would delete the six lines following the word “including” that form the rest of the paragraph. All the names appearing in that paragraph would be deleted and we would replace them with the following names: Mr. Wayne Wouters, Secretary of the Treasury Board of Canada; Ms. Christa Wessel, counsel at Siemens Canada; Mr. Kent Kirkpatrick, City Manager of the City of Ottawa; Mr. Rick O'Connor, counsel the City of Ottawa; and Mr. Réjean Chartrand, former Director of Economic Development and Strategic Projects with the City of Ottawa.
:
Yes, coming from me, Raymonde, it actually is. I was a victim of it just before we went into the Christmas break. With no evidence, I almost had my character assassinated for absolutely nothing. So yes, I think I can speak on this a little bit, Raymonde.
This is unnecessary. We saw last week the attack on Dimitri Soudas. Stéphane Dion had to withdraw his criticisms because they were libellous outside the House of Commons. We saw Ruby Dhalla accusing the justice minister of a crime outside the House of Commons, and she had to apologize and retract. Last week we saw Dimitri Soudas getting attacked with no evidence whatsoever. It was on the front page of The Globe and Mail. It was dismissed by the media the very next day because it was a non-story. Now we're going to invite a bunch of people before the committee on an issue for which the Ethics Commissioner has already rendered judgment that there is nothing wrong.
I think this committee has functioned very well, Madam Chair. We've had a number of people before this committee who have opened our eyes to a number of different topics. We have a very full calendar here already. We've passed a number of motions already to study a number of very important issues that are important to the public service, to the management of government, which is what this committee is about.
This committee isn't about what a former treasury secretary did or didn't do that the Ethics Commissioner said a year and a half ago there's no problem with. This committee is about overseeing the management and the operation of government. That's what this committee's mandate is. We already have a very full schedule.
If this is going to be the start of the downward spiral of parliamentary committees, as we go into an election campaign, where silly season comes now, then this is the beginning of it. And this is entirely unnecessary.
Madame Folco, I welcome you to your first meeting.
I've thought a lot about this motion, because I did feel it was a fishing expedition, and I'm uncomfortable about a fishing expedition. I've asked Mr. Holland if there is a smoking gun that warrants our committee's interest. He said we could look at it in one day.
I'm worried about it still being open-ended, so I would prefer that we put it in the motion that we meet for one day. If we decide afterwards that there's evidence, well, then, we meet afterwards if there's evidence.
I would be very uncomfortable about doing this in front of television cameras. I think it would be inappropriate. If we're going to do this, we have to have very clear definition. Either there's something there or there's not. If there is something there, then we will look at it, but I certainly am not comfortable bringing people in and putting television cameras on them. I think that would be inappropriate at this point, because we don't know what we're looking for.
Personally, I would support, if there is evidence, one day. Let's see, and if, at the end of that, we feel there is something, then I would consider moving on.
I'm asking for your direction on this, Madam Chair, for some very clear guidelines so that we're not opening up a hand grenade on something in the middle of this committee.
:
I don't want to be totally repetitive of the comments to my colleague, but I am concerned for two real reasons. I and a number of members of this committee have championed this to be an oversight committee, as was originally intended. As such, for the most part this committee remains relatively non-partisan--as best we can within the constraints of Parliament. I am really concerned that with this motion we're heading down a slippery slope, and once you start down that slippery slope, away you go.
My prediction right now before this committee is that if we start down this slope it will be a circus. It will be inescapable and will do great injustice to the purpose of this committee. It will do even more injustice to the number of issues that have come before us that we have yet to deal with.
A classic example is the deputation we had here today. They have appeared before this committee a number of times. We have not come up yet with a concrete proposal, evaluation, report, or sense of direction. We have a number of other similar issues that should not, in my humble opinion, be held hostage to political partisan games. Quite frankly, with all due respect to Mr. Holland--he has his role to play within the opposition--I really believe this is going over the bounds of trying to be constructive and an asset to this committee, and getting the results that are needed for the people we represent.
We have a responsibility, not just to ourselves and this committee but to all of the representatives who have come and given witness here. They've poured out their problems and situations to us and asked for our help, guidance, support, and whatever. What message does this send to them? Is it that we'd rather go off and play some political games instead of dealing with some of the problems that really matter to them?
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I'll go back to that point, and I mentioned the slippery slope. Once you take the genie out of the bottle and pull the cap off this thing, the experience I have in Parliament, for the short time I've been here, three and a half to maybe four years, but maybe 30 years around this thing.... All of a sudden our main purpose and direction will be usurped for the wrong reasons. It will be a terrible reflection. It will open up a Pandora's box that will embarrass not only this committee but some members involved in the committee, particularly once we get into this.
There has already been a police investigation. It is done and closed as far as the particular elements of the people we are talking about inviting to this committee. That is a non-starter. Anything else where charges have been laid, these are matters that are before the court. We certainly cannot interview witnesses and ask for testimony that would be relative to comments they might have to make before a court of law.
So I really think we will put ourselves into a position of conflict. We're not going to be able to get solid resolved answers, because people either aren't going to be able to respond or won't want to play the game.
Madam Chair, I want to be on the record as saying, all politics aside, let's do our job with the responsible activities that have been put before this committee. Otherwise we might all just start bringing in spurious motions like this--and away we go. They will be on the next topic, and the next topic. Let's deal with serious issues before us that deserve answers.
:
The witnesses are there because there are two principal questions that have to be answered. One is, there was a confidentiality agreement that was entered into between the government and Siemens-PCL/Dufferin. Were the specific details of that contract violated? That's an important question.
Secondly, we know that the minister obtained a copy of the contract on the understanding that it was to remain confidential and then leaked those contents and may well have misrepresented those contents, and that misrepresentation was to the benefit of a particular mayoralty candidate and had a major influence in the municipal election. That's a very serious thing, obviously, if true.
What we're trying to ascertain with this witness list is whether that indeed is what happened. If it did, then that constitutes, obviously, a very serious breach. That's why the individuals are listed here, including the Secretary of the Treasury Board. We want to ask and understand what the Treasury Board understood were the provisions of the confidentiality agreement they entered into. What were they obliged to uphold, having entered into that agreement with Siemens?
Well, I continue to have concerns about this and the direction this is going. As I said, the Ethics Commissioner has clearly said this is an issue that didn't even warrant an investigation, that we don't need to look into this. I can tell you that if this turns into a gong show and we see the usual behaviour we've seen and people start getting attacked, this committee will get hijacked very quickly.
Madam Chair, I would remind you that we have already passed numerous motions to have Passport Canada come before this committee. That's an important one. We're heading into summer travel season and people are applying for their passports. Last summer all members of Parliament got a lot of correspondence from constituents who were frustrated.
We've asked Revenue Canada to come before the committee. We've also asked to look at the federal government's real estate plan again. We have the executive director of Heritage Canada coming before the committee. I think it was Madame Bourgeois, or maybe it was Madame Faille, who made the correct point that we need to understand the importance of heritage buildings in any kind of government procurement. We've already had that come before this committee. Also, we want Public Sector Integrity Canada to come before the committee, to discuss issues that are important there.
We also have a number of days blocked off to deal with the whole issue of the Public Appointments Commission and the entire issue of Linda Keen and Gary Lunn. We've seen that raised in the House of Common in question period, and in the media. We've had that raised a number of times.
I think it's important that this committee's good work not get sidetracked by this. Madam Chair, I hope you would impress upon committee members and the clerk the importance....
We've already had votes in this committee on a number of motions. I have the list of motions here. I won't go through it. We also have BMO and RBC and those groups to come before the committee, who haven't quite confirmed yet. We want to have them.
We have to respect the democracy of this committee. We've taken a number of votes on a number of important issues. We have a lot of work to come before this committee. This is obviously a fishing expedition. We know why this is coming before the committee. There's no honest intent here, other than the immediate politics of it. This is purely a game.
We have a lot of good work to come before this committee. I would caution members that in voting for this motion a lot of good work that this committee has already committed to could very well be sidetracked. I don't think that's at all helpful.
:
Madam Chair, thank you very much.
From looking around the table and the indications from other committee members, I suspect this motion will go forward. If there are questions that need to be answered, let's have them answered.
Madam Chair, I'm wondering if you can provide us with some details. I think there are concerns, on both sides of the table, that nobody's good name gets dragged into the mud through these processes.
The Ethics Commissioner has already ruled on this. The OPP have made their determination on this. Anybodywho has looked into this from the outside has made the determination that this is a closed case. But obviously we're going to have the opportunity to see some more people. I'm wondering if you or the clerk could provide us with details as to whether there's anything we should be aware of to ensure that people's good names aren't raked through the mud and whether there are provisions you're willing to undertake to ensure that doesn't happen, so as my colleagues have talked about, this committee doesn't turn into a three-ring circus.
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I have two quick little points. Obviously, the public accountscommittee has already taken a look at this situation, and in their collective wisdom and to the credit of the purpose of their committee they do not wish to be an accessory to the degradation of their committee responsibilities and their committee purpose.
But what I'm really deeply concerned about is just what exactly happened in this committee a short while ago. Under the rule of parliamentary protection, Mr. Holland made a slanderous statement and has already made allegations of impropriety against a minister right here in this committee. This is a harbinger of where this committee is going to go with this issue if we allow unfettered political partisan games to rule this committee rather than looking after the serious governmental responsibilities we have.
Here we are just discussing the issue, and already the slander starts. I say to myself, if this is where this committee wishes to go with this issue, then I'm going to find it embarrassing, and I certainly expect it will be for many other committee members before we end up at the destination this little path is going to take us.
That was nothing short of an attack, Mark.
I'm not going to belabour the point or prattle on, but I did want to again reassert the importance of this committee being a new committee in parliamentary history that does have a broad, but still relatively focused, mandate. It's broad in that it can touch activities of government but it's focused in the sense that we're supposed to be overseeing the processes by which decisions are made. What we're doing here for obvious political manoeuvrings is taking one particular individual case of a municipal contract—not a federal contract—and bringing that into the federal arena for the purposes of debate and exposure and attack and criticism and so on. That's what we're doing here.
I think this committee has worked very well. Madam Chair, you've done a very good job and this committee has seen a lot of issues come before it. We started off very rockily in this Parliament with the whole Gwyn Morgan issue. We've recovered a bit. We've regrouped. Our professionalism has re-established itself. We're talking about a lot of issues. I think we need to continue to keep that spirit going forward.
Looking at the motion as it now reads, in the first paragraph we're talking directly about the former Treasury Board president. We're looking at an unprecedented decision. We're asking other people to comment on a decision that the minister made or didn't make. He isn't going to have the opportunity to discuss the matter. I'm wondering if we should just change it to “the decision by Treasury Board” or some other discussion. Really we're asking other people to comment on what he may or may not have been thinking. I'm not certain that really was the intent of the original motion.
Having said that, that's something the committee should maybe look at.
As you just talked about, Madam Chair, with regard to being fair, and obviously we all want this to be fair, before this particular meeting is held I wonder if there'd be an opportunity for us as a committee to speak with the in-house legal experts just to discuss—