2022-2023 Departmental Plan

Table of Contents

• From the President
• Plans at a glance
• Core responsibility: planned results and resources, and key risks
• Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship
• Internal Services: planned results
• Spending and human resources
• Planned spending
• Planned human resources
• Estimates by vote
• Future-oriented Condensed statement of operations
• Corporate information
• Organizational profile
• Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do
• Operating context
• Reporting framework
• Supporting information on the program inventory
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Organizational contact information
• Appendix: definitions
• Endnotes

From the President

I am pleased to present the 2022–23 Departmental Plan for the Public Service Commission of Canada.

By promoting and safeguarding a non-partisan, merit‑based public service, we play a key role in shaping a public service that is representative of all Canadians.

In 2022–23, we will guide departments and agencies on government-wide priorities related to diversity and inclusion, as we implement changes to our enabling legislation, the Public Service Employment Act. Continued focus on advancing technological solutions, including modernizing the federal public service’s recruitment platform, remains top of the list while supporting departments and agencies in adjusting to staffing challenges and emerging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These priorities build on the progress we have already made and take into consideration our operating environment over the last year.

I am confident that by carrying out the plans and priorities laid out in this report, we will successfully guide and support the public service in the ever-changing context of the pandemic. We look forward to sharing our progress and results with Parliamentarians and Canadians over the coming year.

Patrick Borbey
President
Public Service Commission of Canada

Plans at a glance

As a federal institution reporting independently to Parliament on its mandate, the Public Service Commission of Canada is responsible for promoting and safeguarding a merit-based, representative and non-partisan public service that serves all Canadians. Working with departments and agencies across the country, we will focus on hiring a workforce that is reflective of Canada’s diversity and ready to deliver results.

In 2022–23, we will center our efforts on:

• advancing government-wide priorities related to diversity and inclusion
• supporting departments and agencies in adapting to staffing challenges and unforeseen, evolving impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic

The following provides a summary of our key plans for 2022–23:

1. Supporting the achievement of a diverse and inclusive workforce

Building on recent government actions related to diversity and inclusion, we will lead initiatives to identify and eliminate or mitigate against biases and systemic obstacles that Canadians face when pursuing a career in the federal public service. These initiatives include:

• implementing changes to the Public Service Employment Act as they come into force:
• evaluating common assessment methods for biases against and barriers to equity-seeking groups, and developing tools and information to support departments in eliminating or mitigating them
• building capacity within the Public Service Commission and across departments to conduct investigations into errors, omission or improper conduct resulting from biases or barriers that disadvantage equity-seeking groups
• working with members of equity-seeking groups, hiring managers and human resources professionals to inform implementation
• conducting audits to strengthen certain provisions to address potential bias and barriers in staffing processes
• delivering targeted recruitment initiatives to attract talented professionals from employment equity groups and to help hiring managers source diverse, qualified candidates

2. Advancing digital recruitment and assessment solutions to respond to needs and expectations of users

To provide timely support and guidance to help departments and agencies with modern and inclusive talent sourcing for the public service, we will focus on:

• testing and pilot planning a new digital recruitment platform, and advancing virtual assessment solutions to respond to the changing needs and expectations of users
• reviewing key recruitment programs to address the evolving needs of clients
• modernizing the priority entitlement program to help mobilize this experienced talent pool of public servants, veterans and medically released Canadian Armed Forces personnel

We will do this while safeguarding the integrity of the staffing system and the non-partisan nature of the federal public service.

For more information on the Public Service Commission’s plans, priorities and planned results, see the “Core responsibility: planned results and resources, and key risks” section of this report.

Core responsibility: planned results and resources, and key risks

Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

Description

The Public Service Commission promotes and safeguards a merit-based, representative and non-partisan public service that delivers results for all Canadians. 

Through policy direction and guidance, it supports departments and agencies in the hiring of qualified individuals into and within the public service, helping to shape a workforce reflecting Canada’s diversity. It delivers recruitment programs and assessment services supporting the strategic recruitment priorities of the Government of Canada and the renewal of the public service, leveraging modern tools to reduce barriers for Canadians accessing public service jobs. 

It oversees public service hiring, ensuring the integrity of the hiring process. It provides guidance to employees regarding their rights and obligations related to political activities and renders decisions on political candidacy, respecting employees’ rights to participate in political activities, while protecting the non-partisan nature of the public service.

Planning highlights

Our organization strives for an efficient, effective and diverse public service, which remains a priority across the public service. This public service-wide priority calls for a collective effort; recruitment practices in departments and agencies require concrete action to reduce gaps in representation. To get there, we aim to achieve the following 3 results:

1. The federal public service efficiently hires a workforce of the future that is ready to deliver results for Canadians

Although the pandemic slowed staffing as departments and agencies faced uncertainty and adapted to virtual hiring, increases in time to staff external positions remain a concern. While several factors are at play, the time it takes to staff should improve as managers adapt to virtual staffing; however, this will require a joint effort across the public service.

We strive to deliver responsive, flexible and relevant staffing guidance, programs and services that contribute to hiring a competent, diverse, inclusive and professional public service. Providing timely support and guidance to departments and agencies in developing new approaches to talent sourcing and effective recruitment will be key. Working with departments, we plan to:

• advance digital recruitment and assessment services (including second language evaluations) to respond to user needs and expectations, while ensuring they are rigorous, reliable and accessible
• complete the testing and pilot planning of a new recruitment solution that will replace the current platform (known as GCJobs) to offer a seamless, intuitive experience for job seekers, hiring managers and human resources professionals

The federal public service benefits from hiring and retaining skilled employees and veterans. Priority entitlements help people cope with career transitions due to various life and work-related events. Along with our partners (Veterans Affairs Canada, the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces), we continue to increase veteran support and hiring across the public service.

Finally, findings from our 2021 Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey, will shed light on areas needing attention in the post-COVID environment and on perceptions of inclusiveness and accessibility in hiring.

2. The federal public service reflects Canada’s diversity

In response to changes to our enabling legislation, the Public Service Employment Act, we will guide departments and agencies in building capacity and expertise in embedding inclusive hiring practices.

We will apply an inclusive, equity-based lens to shape a workforce that reflects Canada’s diversity and ensure that barriers for diverse groups of Canadians are identified and addressed in our key activities and initiatives. We will need to build strong partnerships to share best practices.

As a result of the Public Service Employment Act changes that make explicit the Public Service Commission’s audit authority for examining biases and barriers, we will propose a series of audits over the coming cycle, including:

• a second employment equity audit that focuses on equity-seeking groups,
• an audit on identifying bias and barriers in staffing processes

These audits will focus on aspects of the staffing system that may pose barriers to members of employment equity and equity-seeking groups, and may provide new evidence on aspects of equity-seeking group representation, which will allow for necessary adjustments and tracking progress over time.

We will support public service renewal through a range of initiatives, programs and services to build on targeted and diversified recruitment strategies such as:

• updating and promoting guides on inclusive assessment methods, including interviews, exams and reference checks
• implementing products that evaluate assessment methods to reduce bias and barriers
• collaborating with our partners from across government and with community-based associations to enable hiring persons with disabilities, Indigenous people, members of visible minorities and racialized groups
• conducting targeted outreach and communicating with members of official language minority communities and employment equity groups, to encourage them to self-declare and to apply to public service jobs

We will also develop an analytical framework for our new investigative authorities and build on the capacity and expertise of our investigative team.

3. Canadians are served by a politically impartial public service

Outreach activities and awareness sessions will be planned to address areas identified by the Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey. Balancing the rights of employees to engage in political activities with their ability to perform their duties in a politically impartial manner, we will render decisions on requests from public servants for permission to be a candidate in an election. We will also examine allegations of improper political activities.

Gender-based analysis plus

As part of our 3 core programs, we aim to consistently apply an intersectional lens supporting a constantly evolving workforce that fully reflects Canada’s diversity. Following the launch of our GBA Plus Responsibility Center in 2018, we will continue to ensure that potential differential impacts for the Canadian population, which may vary as a function of intersecting diversity characteristics, are systematically identified and meaningfully addressed. This work is aligned with key pillars of the Gender Results Framework and supports inclusiveness in all core activities linked to our mandate.

United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Our planned activities under our public service hiring and non-partisanship core responsibility support Canada’s efforts to address the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ^{Table Note 1} and its sustainable development goals ^{Table Note 2}. Our initiatives to reduce barriers for Canadians in accessing public service jobs and to ensure that federal public service hiring reflects Canada’s diversity will contribute to:

• achieving gender equality and empower all women and girls (UN sustainable development goal 5)
• promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all (UN sustainable development goal 8) 
• reducing inequality within and among countries (UN sustainable development goal 10)
• promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels (UN sustainable development goal 16)

Experimentation

We will continue to look for opportunities to improve and optimize our service delivery, with modest experimentation in 2022–23. Building on the findings from the Evaluation of the Priority Entitlements Program, we will pilot new solutions to modernize our program delivery and achieve improved outcomes.

Key risks

Internal vulnerabilities and external factors may affect our ability to achieve our priorities and departmental results. Throughout the year, we will identify mitigation strategies to address key risks, allowing us to adjust our core activities to successfully deliver on our core priorities.

Our main risks are identified below.

Data: We are taking on new activities to implement amendments to the Public Service Employment Act aimed at reducing bias and barriers that disadvantage certain groups in federal public service appointment processes. The lack of historical, detailed and timely data on equity-seeking groups will limit our ability to develop and implement well-informed programs and services and to oversee the impact of the changes. Mitigation strategies in 2022–23 may include partnerships with external parties to allow us to collect more accessible and timely data.

Program and service delivery: The rapidly changing staffing context is shifting assessment and recruitment practices across departments. As we adjust our focus and priorities to be more responsive, we may not be able to deliver effective programs and services. This could affect our capacity to fill vacant positions, as do heightened demand and growing expectations along with fierce competition to attract and retrain specialized skills. If we cannot keep pace with rapidly changing needs and expectations, we may not be able to drive changes in staffing processes and behaviours across the public service. Strategies to mitigate this risk in 2022–23 may include:

• providing extra guidance and advice
• streamlining priorities across our organization to align funding with our core activities
• reviewing and adjusting our business lines as needed
• reviewing our human resources allocation and organizational structure to adapt to emerging public service trends and changes and to meet Canadians’ expectations

Digital transformation: Over the last decade, new recruitment practices and technologies have led job applicants and hiring managers to expect faster and more accessible staffing. Due to the sudden transition to a remote operating context brought about by the pandemic, demand for digital assessment and recruitment solutions has increased significantly. With changes to the Public Service Employment Act, demand has also increased for bias and barrier-free, accessible recruitment practices and platforms. This adds to the complexity of the demands on the new systems. A shortage of effective Public Service Commission services would negatively impact federal departments; some might permanently turn to alternative solutions. This could impact our funding levels, business lines and monitoring capacity, and could also create inefficiencies and inconsistencies across the public service.

More information on the external and internal factors that may impact our planned results in 2022–23 is provided in the operating context section of this report.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Public Service Commission’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 3}

Planned budgetary financial resources for Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending
58,319,609	58,319,609	58,219,627	56,451,023

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Public Service Commission’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 4}

Planned human resources for Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

2022–23 planned full-time equivalents	2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents
537	536	536

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Public Service Commission’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 5}

Internal Services: planned results

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

• Management and Oversight Services
• Communications Services
• Legal Services
• Human Resources Management Services
• Financial Management Services
• Information Management Services
• Information Technology Services
• Real Property Management Services
• Materiel Management Services
• Acquisition Management Services

Planning highlights

Frequent and rapid adjustments in our processes, products and services to adapt to the pandemic situation created fatigue in some areas of our organization. As well, challenges in recruiting and retaining employees with specialized skills sets have increased pressure on employees in understaffed units.

To support our workforce, we will provide the resources, leadership and backing to deliver on our commitments by:

Improving employee experience with timely hiring and effective onboarding, and focusing on employee well-being in a modern and inclusive workplace

A people management approach that promotes a healthy, respectful and productive workplace remains one of our priorities in 2022–23. We will provide the support employees need for their mental health and well-being, while equipping them to succeed in a post-pandemic work environment.

As part of our commitment to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace, we will continue to work with employment equity and equity-seeking groups to address barriers to equity in the workplace. This starts with increasing the representation of under-represented groups, as well as eliminating challenges such as racism, harassment and gender-based violence in the workplace.

In addition to supporting the federal public service’s gradual implementation of virtual solutions (as detailed under “Digital transformation” in the key risks section of this report), our internal IT services will address technical debt through initiatives to modernize our IT ecosystem and better support digital service delivery and operations. Managing technical debt is essential to mitigating risks related to aging infrastructure, enhancing service delivery and operations, and attracting and retaining talent.

During the pandemic, our organization proved we could adapt to new ways of working while delivering results for Canadians. We are learning from this experience and embracing a hybrid workplace. As we move forward, we will continue to adapt and test new approaches. We are committed to ensuring that teleworking employees have the tools they need to work remotely, and that employees returning to the workplace on a full or part-time basis also have the equipment they need.

Planned budgetary spending for internal services

2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending
34,151,345	34,151,345	34,104,295	33,272,011

Planned human resources for Internal Services

2022–23 planned full-time equivalents	2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents
287	287	287

Spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department’s planned spending and human resources for the next three consecutive fiscal years and compares planned spending for the upcoming year with the current and previous years’ actual spending.

Planned spending

Departmental spending 2019–20 to 2024–25

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory) spending over time.

Budgetary planning summary for core responsibility and Internal Services (dollars)

The following table shows actual, forecast and planned spending for the Public Service Commission’s core responsibility and for Internal Services for the years relevant to the current planning year.

Spending remained constant at $93.6 million in 2019–20 and 2020–21 and is expected to decrease from $93.2 million in 2021–22 to $92.5 million in 2022–23 due to the absence of the retroactive salary payments.

Planned human resources

This section provides an overview of the department’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2022–23 with actual spending for the current year and the previous year.

Human resources planning summary for core responsibility and Internal Services

Full-time equivalents decreased from 857 in 2019-20 to 828 in 2020-21. The decrease of 29 full-time equivalents is the result of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which the planned staffing was delayed.

Estimates by vote

Information on the Public Service Commission’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2022–23 Main Estimates ^{Footnote 6}.

Future-oriented Condensed statement of operations

The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of the Public Service Commission’s operations for 2021–22 to 2022–23. The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The amounts for forecast and planned spending presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ. A more detailed future‑oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations to the requested authorities, are available on the Public Service Commission’s website. ^{Footnote 7}

Future-oriented Condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2023 (dollars)

Financial information	2021–22 forecast results	2022–23 planned results	Difference (2022–23 planned results minus 2021–22 forecast results)
Total expenses	123,136,368	130,018,958	6,882,590
Total revenues	-7,724,685	-14,266,455	-6,541,769
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	115,411,683	115,752,502	340,820

Expenses:
Total expenses for 2022-23 are planned at $130.1 million, representing a $6.9 million increase from the previous year’s forecasted total expenses of $123.1 million.

Revenues:
Total revenue for 2022–23 is planned at $14.3 million, representing a $6.5 million increase over the previous year's total revenue of $ 7.7 million.

Significant variances:
Variance of $0.3 million between 2022–23 and 2021–22 is largely attributable to planning figures for 2022–23. Planning figures for 2022–23 are based on the overall authorities for the year, whereas the 2021–22 figures are based on the projected spending against the available authorities.  

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister(s): The Honourable Bill Blair, P.C., C.O.M., MP

Institutional head: Patrick Borbey, President

Ministerial portfolio: The Public Service Commission of Canada is part of the Privy Council Office portfolio

Enabling instrument(s): Public Service Employment Act ^{Footnote 8} (S.C. 2003, c.22. 12, 13)

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1908

Other: Public Service Commission of Canada website

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Information on the Public Service Commission’s “Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on the Public Service Commission of Canada’s website ^{Footnote 9}.

Operating context

The federal public service is Canada’s largest employer, with almost 288 000 employees. These professionals serve as climate scientists, nurses in Northern regions, fisheries officers, policy advisors and in thousands of other roles that shape the country. The federal government relies heavily on this workforce’s competency. It also depends on a diverse public service that reflects the range of backgrounds and worldviews that make up Canadian society.

The Public Service Commission of Canada is responsible for safeguarding a merit-based, representative and non-partisan public service that serves all Canadians. To give departments and agencies the flexibility to build staffing systems adapted to their needs, we have delegated many of our appointment authorities to deputy heads. We guide and support deputy heads in respecting legislative and policy requirements. We rely on the actions and leadership of all hiring managers, human resources professionals and deputy heads to ensure the federal public service hires a diverse and professional workforce. 

We manage the Public Service Resourcing System, also known as GC Jobs, an online recruitment platform used by 94 federal departments and agencies. Approximately one million job applications are submitted through this platform each year, for roughly 10 000 job postings. We also deliver recruitment programs and assessment services to help public service hiring managers hire qualified individuals. This includes French and English second language tests for reading, writing and oral proficiency to ensure that Canadians can be served, and federal public servants can work, in the official language of their choice.

In today’s labour market, job seekers and hiring managers increasingly expect timely and innovative approaches to hiring. Long staffing times can cause the federal public service to miss out on high-quality candidates, who may be recruited more quickly by other employers. As well, the pandemic has heightened the demand for online recruitment and assessment solutions. We need to modernize our outdated recruitment and assessment tools and platforms to effectively support public service staffing; this remains one of our top priorities.

Appointment processes must be effective and inclusive. We have continued to work to achieve a public service that reflects Canada’s diversity. However, we are now looking beyond the 4 employment equity groups and geographic and official language representation, at a wider range of socio-demographic and intersecting identity factors to ensure hiring processes are free from bias and systemic barriers.

Since the implementation of the New Direction in Staffing in 2016, we have been simplifying staffing to help departments and agencies attract talented employees and meet their unique hiring needs. The pandemic required us to adapt to working remotely and to grant new, temporary flexibilities to hiring managers so that they could continue to staff. We worked closely with departments to help them hire and deliver services to Canadians. We did this while safeguarding a non-partisan and merit-based public service through audits, surveys and targeted studies, as well as through investigations of alleged staffing irregularities and allegations of improper political activities.

Changes to our enabling legislation, the Public Service Employment Act, are being implemented, and we’ve begun to develop tools to guide departments and agencies on the resulting impacts to the hiring process. We will continue to work with them to remove barriers and biases in the staffing system.

Reporting framework

The Public Service Commission’s ^{Footnote 10} approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2022–23 are as follows.

Departmental Results Framework	Core Responsibility Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship		Internal Services
	Departmental Result 1: The public service efficiently hires the workforce of the future that is capable and ready to deliver results for Canadians	Indicator 1 Number of days to complete an external staffing process
		Indicator 2 Percentage of managers who say they have the flexibility to fulfill their hiring needs
		Indicator 3 Percentage of managers who believe that appointees meet the performance expectations of the position
		Indicator 4 Percentage of new hires and internal promotions who fully meet the qualifications of the position (based on merit)
	Departmental Result 2: The public service reflects Canada’s diversity	Indicator 5 Percentage of employees who are women
		Indicator 6 Percentage of employees who are Indigenous peoples
		Indicator 7 Percentage of employees who are members of visible minority groups
		Indicator 8 Percentage of employees who are persons with disabilities
		Indicator 9 Percentage of new hires under the age of 35
		Indicator 10 Percentage of Official Language Minority applicants (French-speaking applicants outside of Quebec and English-speaking applicants within Quebec)
		Indicator 11 Percentage of new hires who applied from outside the National Capital Region
	Departmental Result 3: Canadians are served by a politically impartial public service	Indicator 12 Number of founded investigations related to political activities
		Indicator 13 Percentage of employees who are aware of their legal rights and responsibilities regarding engaging in political activities
Program Inventory	Program 1 Policy Direction and Support
	Program 2 Recruitment and Assessment Services
	Program 3 Oversight and Monitoring

Supporting information on the program inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to the Public Service Commission’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 11}

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on the Public Service Commission’s website ^{Footnote 12}.

• Reporting on Green Procurement
• Gender-based analysis plus

Federal tax expenditures

The Public Service Commission’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures that relate to its planned results for 2022–23.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance, and the Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government­‑wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures ^{Footnote 13}. This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis. The tax measures presented in this report are solely the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address

Public Service Commission of Canada
22 Eddy Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M7

Email: cfp.infocom.psc@cfp-psc.gc.ca
Website(s): Public Service Commission’s website ^{Footnote 14}

Appendix: definitions

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appropriation (crédit)
Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)
An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
A report on the plans and expected performance of a department over a 3 year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité ministérielle)
A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Departmental priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)
A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)
A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation)
The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare, the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works and what doesn’t. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. Full time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])
An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2021–22 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2020 Speech from the Throne, namely: Protecting Canadians from COVID-19; Helping Canadians through the pandemic; Building back better – a resiliency agenda for the middle class; The Canada we’re fighting for.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)
What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)
A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)
The process of communicating evidence based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)
The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)
For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.
A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)
Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
Identifies all of the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)
An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

strategic outcome (résultat stratégique)
A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization’s mandate, vision and core functions.

target (cible)
A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.