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Results: 1 - 15 of 41
View Luc Berthold Profile
CPC (QC)
That seems to be a political comment to me. That is why I wanted to let you know. The auditor general's comments are usually very well documented and based on specific elements.
I do not disagree with what you said, but I wanted to know why it was indicated in that way. This is literally a comment on government policy. This comment is more political than based on facts.
I am just making a quick comment, but I don't blame you for it. I also think this was an absolutely essential program. It was worth mentioning this element.
Mr. Hamilton, I wanted to talk to you about communication among departments. I saw in your action plan that you were going to put in efforts to improve that communication.
I recently received from the minister a letter about a completely different issue. I am talking about the famous issue between Service Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency concerning the Canada recovery caregiving benefit, or CRCB. For people to be able to obtain answers, data must be shared between a CRA agent and a Service Canada agent.
Don't you think it is high time for the two organization to talk to each other and find a solution to those communication and data sharing issues, since those problems have been surfacing more and more frequently?
Bob Hamilton
View Bob Hamilton Profile
Bob Hamilton
2021-05-04 12:12
That is indeed an issue for us in general.
In the action plan, we mentioned a few changes concerning situations where it is necessary to obtain information from another department.
For example, at the Department of Immigration, it is important to have information on newcomers, as well as on people emigrating from Canada. So we exchange information with the Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA, but—
View Luc Berthold Profile
CPC (QC)
Do those exchanges have to be done from person to person? Can the information be obtained electronically?
Bob Hamilton
View Bob Hamilton Profile
Bob Hamilton
2021-05-04 12:13
That's what I'm getting at. We're increasingly using an automated system in which systems specific to both departments can communicate with each other. It isn't necessary to have someone from CBSA talking to someone from the Department of Immigration.
This poses a challenge, however, since each agency and department has its own system. I hope that we'll gradually develop systems that can communicate with each other. We've already made a great deal of progress in this area, but there's still a lot to do. This is important for the future, given the largely digital economy.
We have processes, but we need to improve them and automate them more for Canadians. You're right about that.
View Luc Berthold Profile
CPC (QC)
In your opinion, is the Treasury Board paying enough attention to this issue? Is it putting enough pressure on different departments to find a solution quickly?
Bob Hamilton
View Bob Hamilton Profile
Bob Hamilton
2021-05-04 12:14
The Treasury Board is paying very close attention to this issue and to a number of other issues.
The Canada child benefit poses a challenge. However, I suspect that it isn't the biggest challenge facing the government.
The Treasury Board is paying attention to this issue, and we'll continue to work with the other departments.
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
As a follow-up, according to the OAG's report other branches of the agency and other federal departments were likely to have information that could support a benefit application—for example, the renewal of a resident card. Access to this information would have to be enabled to access eligibility with higher levels of confidence.
Is this information not accessible due to legal restrictions on sharing information between CRA and departments or even between branches of the CRA, or could this information be easily accessible?
Frank Vermaeten
View Frank Vermaeten Profile
Frank Vermaeten
2021-05-04 12:32
Perhaps I could turn to my colleague Heather Daniels with respect to the privacy-sharing rules.
I think it's very case-specific. In some cases, there are going to be limitations in terms of whether the other department is able to share that information. At other times, it's a system issue: Can the systems talk to each other? In other cases, there's definitely progress that we can make in some of these issues, as the OAG pointed out. We're working on that on a number of fronts.
Could I turn to Heather and ask her whether she wanted to contribute anything to this?
Heather Daniels
View Heather Daniels Profile
Heather Daniels
2021-05-04 12:33
I would agree. I believe Mr. Vermaeten covered the scenarios. Often there are privacy issues with respect to sharing of information, so there are limitations. In some cases, we can develop a memorandum of understanding, an MOU, with another department to facilitate the process of information sharing, as we've recently done with Canada Border Services in our agreement to receive information on exit data.
We are making much progress in respect of sharing information with other departments.
View Kody Blois Profile
Lib. (NS)
View Kody Blois Profile
2021-05-04 12:42
Okay. Talk to me about the information, because of course there are broader conversations going on right now about the information sharing between provinces and territories and the federal government around health care writ large, given the fact that we're in a pandemic.
Is the information that you receive from the provinces and territories generally all in the same standard form, or does each province or territory have a bit of a different way in which they send that information to the federal government?
Frank Vermaeten
View Frank Vermaeten Profile
Frank Vermaeten
2021-05-04 12:43
Generally speaking, it's very similar across provinces and the one territory. We're working with the two other territories that aren't part of this to try to put in place those systems and the information-sharing agreements to get the right information so we can be confident of giving individual CCB if the hospital provides us this information.
View Kody Blois Profile
Lib. (NS)
View Kody Blois Profile
2021-05-04 12:43
Just because I am curious, can you tell me if all of that information is being sent to the Government of Canada in digital form, or it is in paper form? How does that actually come to you?
View Kody Blois Profile
Lib. (NS)
View Kody Blois Profile
2021-05-04 12:44
Okay. I appreciate that.
I want to go back to Mr. Lawrence's line of questioning. He talked about new Canadians, and we recognize that 50% are still coming from family situations that are always changing. I think we can all appreciate that. Some are individuals who weren't born in the country.
I'll go back to this. Is there room for us to find efficiencies whereby information is shared with other departments that we can blend into the work you are doing? To me, what Mr. Lawrence raised was very valid. The conversation was around organizations in the non-profit sector doing a lot of work, but would IRCC not have a lot of this information that could be shared with CRA?
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