[Backgrounder] [Charles-Antoine St-Jean] May 6, 2004 Ottawa - Treasury Board President Reg Alcock and Finance Minister Ralph Goodale today welcomed the appointment by Prime Minister Paul Martin of Mr. Charles-Antoine St-Jean as the new Comptroller General for Canada, effective June 1, 2004. "Re-establishing the Office of the Comptroller General is part of our effort to strengthen comptrollership and oversight across the federal government," Minister Alcock said. "One of Mr. St-Jean's key roles will be to promote stronger financial controls that are essential to ensuring rigorous stewardship of public funds and value for money." Minister Goodale said, "Today's announcement is about making the best use of every tax dollar, so that we'll have the resources we need for the investments that matter most to Canadians. "We need to provide honest, ethical, efficient management. We need strong internal comptrollership and effective, timely audits. And we need conscientious political oversight and accountability," said Minister Goodale. Mr. St-Jean added: "I am looking forward to working with senior officials and more closely with the people responsible for financial management across the public service." The Comptroller General's key duties include: Overseeing all government spending including review and sign-off on new spending initiatives; Setting or reviewing financial, accounting and auditing standards and policies for the Government of Canada; and Providing leadership to ensure and enforce appropriate financial controls and cultivate sound resource stewardship at all levels across the federal public service. Other measures the government is taking to strengthen public sector management include: Undertaking, through the Expenditure Review Committee, reviews of government expenditures and management in a number of areas including procurement and contracting, information technology, and corporate and administrative services. This work will result in the identification, within four years, of savings of at least $3 billion annually for ongoing investments in the priorities of Canadians; Strengthening internal audit and evaluation; Introducing modern, timely, "enterprise-wide" financial and human resource information systems to track all spending and provide appropriate tools for effective scrutiny and decision-making. Further information on the government's plans to strengthen public sector management and on the reviews currently underway is available on the TBS Web site at: www.tbs-sct.gc.ca. - 30 - For more information, contact: Lise Jolicoeur Press Secretary Office of the President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board (613) 957-2666 Mario Baril Media Relations Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (613) 957-2391 Pat Breton Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Finance (613) 996-7861 IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL. TTY (Telecommunications device for the hearing impaired) - (613) 957-9090 Backgrounder Strengthening Comptrollership and Public Sector Management The government believes it is important to put in place strong financial controls and oversight to ensure the rigorous stewardship of public funds and increased accountability and transparency. The leadership of the new Comptroller General of Canada is key to strengthening comptrollership and management practices across government. The Comptroller General will oversee all government spending, provide leadership across the public service financial management community, and ensure standards are set and adhered to. The key responsibilities of this position are to: set financial, accounting and auditing standards and policies for the Government of Canada; oversee all government spending including review and sign-off on new spending initiatives; provide advice and guidance to departmental comptrollers (Senior Financial Officers) on sound financial management and administrative practices and procedures; manage and conduct internal audit operations for small agencies that do not have their own internal audit capacity; modernize the government's financial management suite of policies; provide leadership to the public service, through the financial community, focussing on the need to ensure and enforce appropriate financial controls and cultivate sound resource stewardship at all levels across the federal public service; nurture and manage the professional development of the financial community, including establishing accreditation and certification standards and advising on the financial management modules of public service learning curriculum; and approve the appointment of all departmental Comptrollers. A more focussed mandate for the Treasury Board Secretariat and the re-establishment of the Comptroller General of Canada within the Treasury Board Secretariat are part of a number of initiatives announced by the government since December 12, 2003 to strengthen public sector management. In addition: Internal audit has been bolstered across government. Deputy heads are now required to chair internal audit committees, which will put in place comprehensive audit programs, based on sound risk analysis. As well, all the annual financial statements of departments and agencies will be audited within five years. New Ethics Commissioner legislation has been passed. A strengthened Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Ministers and Minister's staff has been issued. A new appointment process for boards of directors, chairs and CEOs of Crown corporations has been put in place. On March 31, 2004, the Government of Canada made the travel and hospitality expenses of ministers, ministers of state, ministers' office staff and senior officials available on its Web site. Departments, agencies, and agents of Parliament including the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, must update this data quarterly. The next step is to disclose all contracts entered into by the Government of Canada for amounts over $10,000, with only very limited exceptions such as those related to national security. Professional certification standards for departmental comptrollers will be established before the end of the year and these standards are to be met by departmental senior financial officers within three years. The government will put in place modern, timely, "enterprise-wide" financial and human resource information systems to track all spending and provide appropriate tools for effective scrutiny and decision-making. The new mandate for Treasury Board Secretariat not only provides for a more rigorous oversight of government expenditures, it will instil the need for continuous reallocation and realignment of spending from lower priorities to higher priorities. To strengthen Treasury Board Secretariat's oversight function, the government will also: develop and strengthen the new Management Accountability Framework to assess management practices and promote improvements in them; create a new risk management assessment for individual departments and agencies; reform its policy suite to streamline reporting requirements, provide greater policy clarity, and focus on key risk areas; establish a new business process for the Treasury Board to allow Ministers to focus more attention on broader management and expenditure issues; and rationalize the management and administrative support of small agencies through the establishment of common management services. The Expenditure Review Cabinet Committee established in December 2004, is reviewing all federal spending to identify opportunities to reallocate federal spending from lower to higher priority programs and to recommend ways to strengthen management, oversight and effective delivery of programs and services. This work will result in the identification, within four years, of savings of at least $3 billion annually for ongoing investments in the priorities of Canadians. The reviews underway by the Expenditure Review Committee are examining: Government-wide expenditures, operations and systems to identify opportunities for better management and governance, improved effectiveness and the feasibility of achieving longer-term economies. Cross-department policies and programs to determine the adequacy of their management, delivery, accountability, reporting and the possibilities for re-aligning spending and program delivery (e.g. support to Canadian aboriginal peoples, climate change, support to municipalities); and Expenditures in the largest departments and agencies to determine opportunities for reallocation of expenditures or program rationalization. The government also initiated three reviews on February 10, 2004 to ensure that ethical standards and management practices in the federal public sector are raised still higher. These reviews, which are to be completed by September 30, 2004, are aimed at: strengthening the Financial Administration Act; better defining the respective accountabilities and responsibilities of ministers and senior public servants; and improving the governance and transparency of Crown corporations. More information on the role of the Comptroller General and the government's initiatives to strengthen public sector management including the booklet Strengthening Public Sector Management: An Overview of the Government Action Plan and Key Initiatives is available at www.tbs-sct.gc.ca. Charles-Antoine St-Jean Biography Charles-Antoine St-Jean, from Gatineau, Quebec, has a wealth of experience in accounting and financial management in both the private and public sectors. Mr. St-Jean joined Ernst & Young (E&Y) (then Clarkson Gordon) in 1976 and practised public accountancy in both Canada and Europe. In 1983, he transferred to the consulting firm of Ernst & Young and became a partner in both the accounting and consulting practices. Between 1984 to 1998, Mr. St-Jean provided leadership to several public sector portfolio clients including, the Canada Post Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. In 2000, he joined Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGE&Y) as a Vice-President after the worldwide merger of Ernst & Young Consulting and Cap Gemini. Mr. St-Jean is the Canadian Public Sector Leader for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, and member of its Global Public Sector network. He obtained a B.Adm. and a B.Com (Spec. Accounting) from the University of Ottawa. He is also a member of the Ontario Institute of Chartered Accountants and L'Ordre des Comptables Agréés du Québec.
