:
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm here to present the House of Commons main estimates for 2010-11.
[Translation]
As you will remember, I was here on March 18 to present the House of Commons Supplementary Estimates (C) for fiscal year 2009-2010.
[English]
Since that time, notable changes have occurred. Central to today's discussion are the Board of Internal Economy's decisions of March 22 to freeze office budgets for members, House officers, and presiding officers at the 2009-10 levels. Members' sessional allowances and House officers' and presiding officers' salaries have also been frozen at the 2009-10 levels, in accordance with the 2010 federal budget. Furthermore, the board decided to fund any House administration 2010-11 salary increases within existing resources. These measures are in addition to the stringent review of requirements that had already been conducted in preparation for these main estimates.
The revised 2010-11 main estimates, based on the Board of Internal Economy's March 22 decisions, total $436,054,801--I'm not sure how many cents, we haven't put that in--which represents an increase of 2.2%, or $9.5 million, over fiscal year 2009-10.
As you would expect, all items included in the main estimates have been presented to and approved by the Board of Internal Economy.
[Translation]
For reference purposes, you have received the document outlining the year-over-year changes from 2009-2010 to 2010-2011. You will note that the reductions are also highlighted in this document.
I will provide an overview of the budget increases and reductions along four major themes: budgets for members, House officers and presiding officers; security; services to members; and salaries.
[English]
I'd first like to start by providing an overview of the adjustments to the budgets for members, House officers, and presiding officers.
In November 2009 the board approved permanent funding of $2.7 million for the travel points system. I should say this is additional funding for the travel points system. Travel under the travel points system is a non-discretionary statutory expense, as per the Parliament of Canada Act. As you know, this system ensures that all members have access to the same transportation resources, regardless of where their constituency is located.
Whereas the budget had remained unchanged since 2005-2006, travel expenditures charged to the travel points system have increased in recent years, reaching a point at which the current budget is insufficient to meet resource requirements. These increases are due to rising prices in the travel industry, which can be explained in part by a capacity constraint among airlines, surtaxes on airline charges, and increases in ground transportation costs.
Next, you will note the $1.4 million reduction as a result of the board decision to freeze members' office budgets at 2009-2010 levels. Similarly, the main estimates reflect cost reductions of $292,000 and $18,000 further to the decisions to freeze House officers' and presiding officers' budgets, respectively.
Furthermore, the board has approved an amount of $452,000 to cover the revised elector supplement allocations that are based on the final number of electors published by the Chief Electoral Officer. Following the October 2008 general election, the official electoral list showed that 74 ridings are eligible for either a new or a revised elector supplement. Members who represent densely populated constituencies receive an elector supplement that is added to the basic budget when there are 70,000 or more electors on the constituency's final list of electors.
Additionally, the main estimates allocate $117,000 extra for an economic increase of 1.5% to the members' travel status expenses account. Similar to travel under the travel points system, the members' travel status expenses account is a non-discretionary statutory expense, as per the Parliament of Canada Act. The board approved this increase effective April 1, 2010, and it is in line with the Expenditure Restraint Act. It represents an increase of $382 per member, bringing the account total to $25,850. As you're well aware, members on travel status may charge their travel-related accommodation, meals, and incidental expenses to this account.
Moving now to the funding that is allocated to security requirements in the main estimates, essential funding of $277,000 for the establishment of a dedicated IT security unit and expanded IT security throughout the parliamentary precinct was approved by the board in December 2008, and the funding was confirmed by the board at its March 22 meeting of this year.
I'd like to provide you with some background information on these initiatives.
In 2009-10, the newly formed IT security team was influential in driving security requirements into projects to enhance solutions through threat risk assessments. To reduce threats, existing tools were enabled and optimized to determine network anomalies, reducing the impact on the organization and loss of information. Additional funding is required to continue this essential work and support the security framework developed to protect the House of Commons IT infrastructure.
[Translation]
Information Services provides ongoing maintenance and support of security services in buildings and facilities throughout the Parliamentary Precinct and in other locations. Additional funding is required for the IT infrastructure to support security services in new buildings outside of the Parliamentary Precinct, including the Promenade Building, the Printing and Mailing Services facility and the Food Production facility.
The board is committed to continuing to provide the required funding to protect our IT infrastructure—given the essential work that it enables.
[English]
Let us now turn to the funding that the main estimates allocate to services to members.
In November the board approved a permanent funding increase of $860,000 for the provision of high-speed constituency communication network services. The contract for this service was renewed in June 2007, and presented an opportunity to review requirements based on members' feedback.
The additional funding will allow for the delivery of enhanced services to members in their constituency offices and will enable access to members' Ottawa office data from constituency offices. Enhanced services will also include a higher level of security, uniform services for all members, and shorter timeframes for network installations.
[Translation]
As with the Travel Points System and the Members' Travel Point System and the Members' Travel Status Expenses Account, the Constituency Communication Network is non-discretionary item as per the Parliament of Canada Act.
[English]
Additionally, the main estimates reflect a net increase of $11,000 in funding for the integrated procurement and contract management system. This project was initiated as planned; however, difficulties in obtaining qualified professional resources resulted in delays in the project. As a result, some of the work that had been planned for 2009-10 will be completed this year. Therefore, there was a reduction in funding of $104,000 for the fiscal year 2009-10 and a re-profiling of $115,000 from fiscal year 2009-10 to fiscal year 2010-11, resulting in the net increase of $11,000.
Let us turn to the salary adjustments that are included in the main estimates. First you'll note that further to the board's March 22 meeting there is a revised funding increase of $2.5 million for House administration employees, as opposed to the previously approved $5 million. This funding will be used for the retroactive 1.5% salary increases prior to April 1, 2010, in accordance with the Expenditure Restraint Act.
Further to the board's decision, the remaining 1.5% salary increase for 2010-11 will be funded from the House administration's existing budgetary allocations. This board decision is consistent with the 2010 federal budget, which stipulates that Government of Canada departments must fund the 1.5% salary increases for their employees internally.
Next, the main estimates allocate an increase in funding of $836,000 for salary adjustments for members, House officers, and presiding officers. This funding specifically pertains to increases prior to April 1, 2010 that are not affected by the 2010 federal budget. As I mentioned, members, House officers, and presiding officers' salaries have been frozen at the 2009-10 levels as of April 1, 2010.
You will also see that the main estimates allocate $600,000 for a pension adjustment to the members of Parliament retirement compensation arrangements account. The cost to the House of Commons for contributions to members' pension plans is determined and managed by Treasury Board based on actuarial calculations. Treasury Board has estimated a $3.2 million deficit in the retirement compensation arrangements account as of March 31, 2009.
Pursuant to the related legislation, the president of the Treasury Board has determined that the deficit should be amortized with interest in six installments over a seven-year period, beginning with the 2008-09 fiscal year. An annual amount of $600,000 is therefore required until the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Finally, the main estimates provide $1.2 million for employee benefit plans. This is a non-discretionary statutory expenditure that is based on the contribution rate set by the Treasury Board Secretariat. The rate of 17% that became effective on April 1, 2010, is consistent with the rate set for 2009-10. Employee benefit plan contributions cover costs to the employer for the public service superannuation plan, the Canada Pension Plan and the Quebec Pension Plan, death benefits, and the employment insurance account.
[Translation]
This concludes the overview of the House of Commons Main Estimates for fiscal year 2010-2011. I am confident that you will agree that these Main Estimates aptly represent the House of Commons' commitment to sound resource management.
The clerk and I would be pleased to answer any questions that you may have.
:
Mr. Chairman, the Speaker suggests that I address the question of whether the main estimates are sufficient to see that the House of Commons meets its strategic objectives. I think they are. There is no question that we made a very serious effort as an administration. My senior management team made a very serious effort to come into line with the economic climate that everybody is facing, and we have been very rigorous in looking at our priorities.
We are most concerned with the continuation of excellent service to members. That is always our first priority. We are also experiencing, on the administration front, the question of the demographics of retirement, so succession planning on the administration front is something we obviously are planning for and are experiencing as time goes on. I would say this is leaving us in a good position.
We are going to continue to monitor very closely, and of course we are assisted in this by the fact that, as the Speaker's opening remarks made clear, many of the entitlements of members, for instance, for travel and for communications are statutory and therefore there are provisions for those to be increased as the need arises. We were very proud of the fact that we were able to manage the travel budget with 2005 resources up until now, but we couldn't go any further, so we've had to go ahead with the $2.7 million increase there.
With regard to significant changes in our plans, I wouldn't say that has actually occurred. There might have been, again, a reordering of the plans so that we continue to put emphasis on member services, and there may be things that have slipped into a nice-to-do column from a we'll-get-right-on-it column, but that happens in any kind of time of economic downturn, such as the one we're facing.
With regard to the West Block and the long-term vision and plan, if I may say, the long term seems to be getting to the point of being the eternal-term vision and plan. We are proceeding with the plan to vacate the West Block.
There is, as far as I can tell, no excuse for the kind of situation you are living through now. I'll talk to the Sergeant-at-Arms. One of the things that sometimes happens with landlords generally and with Public Works in particular is they get ahead of themselves, and if we are supposed to vacate by the end of summer or early fall, they say we don't need to touch it now, while your people are slowly basting.
It has to be said that this heat wave took everybody by surprise, but we'll address that immediately.
:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you Mr. Milliken and Ms. O'Brien, for being here this morning.
Since we are here mainly to discuss the Main Estimates, I would like to know certain things.
First, concerning the evolution of the 10% outside members' constituencies, the abolition of the 10% grouped together, and other measures that the Board of Internal Economy has taken to limit collective mailings—not the parliamentary newsletters and so on, but mailings done by members in hundreds of thousands of envelopes—what savings might all that represent?
Second, with regard to all these changes that are imposed on us by Public Works and Government Services Canada—whether concerning 1 Wellington Street or the Promenade Building—what additional security costs do they represent? There are going to be security problems. So we're going to have to increase security services, not those provided by the City of Ottawa, but those provided by the House of Commons in particular.
There will be additional transportation costs. We're now leasing different coloured buses on the outside—white buses that we'll have to use for a number of years. How much will that represent per year?
In addition, how much can this anomaly in the administration of our work force by Public Works Canada represent? Here I'm talking about the new kitchen that I've had the privilege of visiting—just talking about it makes me hungry. That requires one or more refrigerated trucks. I'm told that the Public Works Canada people have imposed their choice of vehicle whereas they could have been identical vehicles to those of the House of Commons fleet. So that represents expenditures and additional suppliers.
Lastly, Mr. Milliken, I would like you to give us a quick little course on the next steps that are to be taken to privatize—let's put it that way—the Parliament buildings and bring the management of those buildings to Parliament.
We have four minutes left.
:
I am pleased to have the opportunity to appear before the committee today to discuss the 2010-2011 Main Estimates for my office. I am accompanied today by Gisèle Côté, who, until recently, was Chief Financial Officer at Elections Canada; Brian Berry, the Acting Chief Financial Officer; and, lastly, Hughes St-Pierre, Senior Director, Strategy, Planning and Evaluation.
As members of the committee know, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer is funded by and operates under two separate budget authorities. The first is an annual parliamentary appropriation, which includes the salaries of permanent full-time staff. For these Main Estimates, our appropriation is $29.6 million—representing the salaries of 404 full-time employees. It is this component that the committee is considering for approval today.
The second is the statutory authority that draws directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. It funds all the other Elections Canada expenditures, such as the costs of preparing for and conducting electoral events, maintenance of the National Register of Electors, quarterly political party allowances, and public information and education programs. Two other budget authorities are also statutory: the salary of the Chief Electoral Officer and the required contributions to employee benefit plans. Our total statutory draw is $92.2 million for this year; this excludes the costs of conducting electoral events.
The funds are allocated to Elections Canada's four key programs. The first concerns electoral event delivery, political financing, compliance and enforcement. The second concerns electoral event readiness and improvements. The third is for public education and information, and support for stakeholders. Lastly, there is electoral boundaries redistribution.
As members of the committee are aware, the most recent federal budget imposes fiscal restraint on government departments for three years. This has an impact on Elections Canada's appropriation, which covers the salaries of our permanent staff.
We will absorb this year's salary increase resulting from collective agreements. This is currently estimated at $450,000. For the subsequent two fiscal years, my agency will not be funded for any salary increases arising from future collective agreements.
Even though the 2010 budget measures do not apply to Elections Canada's statutory authority, my agency will adopt the spirit of budget restraint by applying a cap to its day-to-day operating expenditures. At the same time, Elections Canada will seek to minimize the impact on the services we provide to electors and political entities.
I would now like to briefly describe our priorities for the current year. In 2010-2011, Elections Canada will focus on four over-arching priorities: these are, first, improvements for electors; second, recommended amendments to the Canada Elections Act; third, services to political parties; and, lastly, internal improvements.
With regard to electors, as you know, my office returned to readiness in the fall of 2009 following the 40th general election in October 2008. We will maintain readiness but have shifted our attention to pursuing a series of administrative improvements to the conduct of electoral events. These improvements flow from our strategic plan and the results of our evaluations of the last general election.
[English]
The improvements include continuing the development of an online registration system, to be implemented by October 2011; conducting a pilot project to test technology to assist voters with visual or physical disabilities in casting their ballots independently; developing new creative content for our advertising campaign aimed at youth; adding the voter information card to the list of pieces of identification authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer in order to address challenges some groups of electors face in proving their address prior to voting; improving our methods and approaches for election officer recruitment and training; and finally, exploring ways to reduce barriers faced by some groups of electors. As we pursue these initiatives, we will see the active engagement of stakeholders, including members of this committee and the advisory committee of political parties.
Our second priority for the fiscal year is my report on recommendations for amendments to the Canada Elections Act, which I intend to submit to the Speaker of the House in mid-June. My report will seek to respond to changing needs of Canadians by recommending measures aimed at ensuring greater accessibility, transparency, and efficiency of the electoral process.
Our third priority is to continue improving our services to political entities. In particular, we intend to introduce further measures, such as online tutorials, to assist political entities in understanding regulatory requirements and to promote compliance with the requirements of the act.
Finally, my agency is moving forward with internal improvements. Over the next fiscal year we will implement the first full year of our new human resources strategy, with a particular focus on the professional development of our employees. As well, my office will be analyzing the conclusions of a recent A-base review, an exercise aimed at aligning the agency resources with its highest priorities. We also intend to increase our emphasis on working more closely with our provincial and territorial electoral partners to improve elector services, reduce duplication, and identify opportunities for cost savings.
As part of the upgrade of our information technology infrastructure, we will complete the relocation of a data centre to a modern PWGST facility and continue our efforts to migrate our field application to a new web-based platform. This is required for Elections Canada to deliver new services such as e-registration.
As in the past year, I will continue to consult the advisory committee of political parties on key issues. Last December I consulted a working group of the advisory committee regarding my upcoming recommendations and report. On April 26, we held a second session on e-registration with the working group. Our next meeting is scheduled for June 21 and 22. I also look forward to hosting the members of this committee at Elections Canada on June 17 to discuss our accessibility agenda.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My colleagues and I would be pleased to answer any questions.
Just to put Mr. Proulx's mind at ease, on page 7 there's a clear identifier that you are looking at cost savings. Maybe at some point you could detail what type of cost savings you envision by working with the provincial and territorial electoral partners. Reducing duplication is one way, obviously, and I'd be interested in hearing a little more detail on that.
Prior to your answering that one, I want to go back to page 5, where you outline six different areas that you're focusing on in between elections in order to improve the administrative and voter turnout. I want to highlight two.
The area dealing with physical disabilities and visual disabilities is, I think, key, and I'm really pleased to see you focusing on that.
The other area relates to increasing the voter turnout among our youth. Certainly anything we can do there...and we've discussed that a number of times at this committee. I'm wondering, though, if there's any possibility for Elections Canada to work more closely with high schools who are using the Student Vote approach. I think it's voluntary right now.
I'm not sure if you have a direct relationship with the high schools--
Mr. Marc Mayrand: Oh, yes.
Mr. Harold Albrecht: --but this, in my area, for those high schools that are using it, is a crucial way to create, even though students are not yet old enough to vote, an environment where they may choose to follow through on that in later years.
If you could just comment on those three points, that would be great.