2023-2024 Departmental Plan

Erratum notes

• The exact figures in the narrative section “Expenses” of the table “Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2024 (dollars)” should be as follows:

Expenses: Total expenses for 2023-24 is planned at $128.9 million, representing a $231 K increase from the previous year’s forecasted total expenses of $128.7 million.

• Due to an error in the reporting method, the actual percentage achieved in 2021-22 shown in the table of the section Planning for contracts awarded to indigenous businesses should be 21.65% instead of 38%.

Table of Contents

• From the President
• Plans at a glance
• Core responsibility: planned results and resources, and key risks
• Internal Services: planned results
• Planned spending and human resources
• Corporate information
• Supporting information on the program inventory
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Organizational contact information
• Appendix: definitions

From the President

I am pleased to present the 2023–24 Departmental Plan for the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC).

The PSC fulfils its mandate by promoting and safeguarding merit-based appointments and, in collaboration with other stakeholders, protecting the non-partisan nature of the federal public service.

In fiscal year 2023–24, we will guide departments and agencies as we implement changes to our enabling legislation, the Public Service Employment Act, which aims to remove biases and barriers in public service hiring. We will focus on advancing inclusive digital recruiting and assessment solutions that respond to the expectations of job seekers, candidates and hiring managers. We will also continue to support and guide departments and agencies in making hiring more timely, modern and inclusive.

I invite you to read this report to learn about how our priorities support the public service in a constantly evolving environment. We look forward to maintaining an open dialogue with parliamentarians and Canadians on our progress and results over the coming year.

Stan Lee
Interim President
Public Service Commission of Canada

Plans at a glance

The Public Service Commission of Canada, a federal institution that reports independently to Parliament, is responsible for safeguarding a merit-based, representative and non-partisan public service that serves all Canadians. Working with departments and agencies across the country, in fiscal year 2023–24, we will focus on:

Providing timely support and guidance to help departments and agencies with modern and inclusive hiring.

We will help departments and agencies implement changes to the Public Service Employment Act to address biases and barriers that disadvantage members of equity-seeking groups, by providing and promoting inclusive methods of assessing candidates. We will also continue to modernize our recruitment programs to meet the public service’s immediate and future workforce needs.

Advancing inclusive digital recruitment and assessment solutions to respond to user needs and expectations.

We will progress on our digital technology projects to increase flexibility and provide more efficient recruitment and assessment solutions; this includes achieving key milestones in modernizing our recruitment platform, GC Jobs.

We also plan to increase the functionality and capacity of our virtual assessments, including second language tests, to meet the needs and expectations of job seekers and hiring managers.

We are committed to providing leadership and timely programs and services to enable the federal public service to achieve our 3 expected results.

See “Core responsibility: planned results and resources, and key risks” for more information about our objectives, priorities and expected outcomes.

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 legal rights and responsibilities 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

To support the federal government’s strategic recruitment priorities, we will work with departments and agencies towards full representation, to reduce biases and barriers in recruitment while striving to improve efficiency. We will do this by working 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

We are committed to providing staffing guidance, programs and services that are responsive, adaptable and timely to help departments hire a competent, diverse and inclusive public service. We will work with departments, agencies and diverse groups to:

• modernize recruitment programs by enabling more strategic recruitment of highly diversified, motivated and talented people to meet the immediate and future needs of the public service
• improve digital recruitment and assessment services, including second language tests, to make them more reliable and accessible
• advance work to replace the aging recruitment platform with an adaptable, inclusive, user-centric and digital recruitment solution that attracts talent and meets the needs of job seekers, hiring managers and human resources professionals

2. The federal public service reflects Canada’s diversity

We will guide and support departments and agencies in implementing changes to the Public Service Employment Act aimed at building inclusive hiring practices. We will do this by offering products and services that equip departments to evaluate their assessment methods and reduce biases and barriers.

We will also complete our first government-wide audit on biases and barriers, continue to build the capacity and expertise of our investigative team, and implement new investigative authorities resulting from changes to the Public Service Employment Act.

We will design and conduct the 2023 Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey, which will include new questions on equity-seeking groups. The survey will gather employees’ perceptions of departmental diversity and inclusion initiatives related to staffing. This information will allow us to apply a wider, equity-based lens to focus future work.

We will build upon focused recruitment strategies by:

• collaborating with our partners from across the public service and with community-based associations to support hiring and address representation gaps for persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and members of visible minorities
• conducting tailored outreach and communications with members of official language minority communities and employment equity groups, to encourage them to apply to public service jobs and to self-declare

3. Canadians are served by a politically impartial public service

When making decisions on public servants’ requests to be a candidate in an election, we will continue to balance their rights to participate in political activities with the impact on their ability (real or perceived) to carry out their duties in a politically impartial manner. We will also continue to investigate allegations of improper political activities.

The Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey will also be used to identify areas of focus for outreach activities and awareness sessions.

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. We will 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 the goals, objectives and indicators of the Gender Results Framework.

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^{Endnote 1} and its sustainable development goals.^{Endnote 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)

Key risks

Our plans are developed in consideration of our operating context, the external factors and internal vulnerabilities that could affect our expected results. Our priorities will help us manage the key risks; several controls are already in place, and we will identify new risk responses as we monitor the effectiveness of our planned responses throughout the year. Our main risks are identified below.

Program and Service Delivery: Our organization’s capacity to deliver expected results might be exceeded by:

• the rapidly changing staffing context, which has required shifts in assessment and recruiting practices to focus on inclusion and diversity and on recruiting key skill sets for the future
• growing expectations
• fierce competition to attract and retain specialized skills

Our outdated assessment and recruitment systems and the number of assessment tools and recruitment programs limit our ability to promptly adapt program and service delivery to new requirements, expectations and the rapidly changing staffing environment. This could hinder our reputation and our role as a leader in public service assessment and recruitment.

Digital transformation: Demand has increased for accessible recruitment practices and assessment platforms to reduce biases and barriers that disadvantage members of equity-seeking groups. Our programs and services need to be efficient and modern to provide value.

The current economic situation could have a negative impact on the costs of information technology (IT) goods and services; these costs are expected to increase. Our ability to innovate and to ensure healthy and secure systems may be limited by:

• IT’s necessary focus on ensuring business continuity, modernizing an obsolete digital foundation and supporting major IT-enabled business projects
• dependencies on external partners
• the increasing number and sophistication of cybersecurity threats

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

Planned results for Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

The following table shows, for Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2023–24, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result	Departmental result indicator	Target	Date to achieve target	2019–20 Actual result	2020–21 Actual result	2021–22 Actual result
The public service efficiently hires the workforce of the future that is capable and ready to deliver results for Canadians	Number of days to complete an external staffing process	Equal to or under 167 daysa	March 2024	203 days	250 days	227 days
	Percentage of managers who say they have the flexibility to fulfill their hiring needs	At least 65%	March 2024	Not availableb	Not availableb	60%
	Percentage of hiring managers who believe that appointees meet the performance expectations of the position	At least 90%	March 2024	Not availableb	Not availableb	96%
	Percentage of new hires and internal promotions who fully meet the qualifications of the position (based on merit)	At least 98%	March 2025	Not availablec	Not availablec	Not availablec
The public service reflects Canada’s diversity	Percentage of employees who self-identified as women	At least 52.7%d	March 2024	55%	55.6%	Not availablee
	Percentage of employees who self-identified as Indigenous people	At least 4%d	March 2024	5.1%	5.2%	Not availablee
	Percentage of employees who self-identified as members of visible minority groups	At least 15.3%d	March 2024	17.8%	18.9%	Not availablee
	Percentage of employees who self-identified as persons with disabilities	At least 9%d	March 2024	5.2%	5.2%	Not availablee
	Percentage of executive appointees who self-identified as Indigenous people	At least 5.1%	March 2024	4.1%	4.4%	Not availablee
	Percentage of new hires under the age of 35	At least 53%	March 2024	55.9%	53.9%	54%
	Percentage of official language minority applicants (French-speaking applicants outside of Quebec and English-speaking applicants within Quebec)	At least 11%	March 2024	10.8%	10.1%	12.1%
	Percentage of new hires who applied from outside the National Capital Region	At least 75%	March 2024	72.1%f	78.7%f	79.5%f
Canadians are served by a politically impartial public service	Number of founded investigations related to political activities	Exactly 0	March 2024	20	7	16
	Percentage of employees who are aware of their legal rights and responsibilities regarding engaging in political activities	At least 80%	March 2024	Not availableb	Not availableb	76%

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

Planned budgetary spending for Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

The following table shows, for Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending	2025–26 planned spending
57,374,646	57,374,646	55,631,351	55,749,483

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

Planned human resources for Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents	2025–26 planned full-time equivalents
567	560	560

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Public Service Commission’s program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 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

We are committed to ensuring that our employees are agile, responsive and able to continue supporting our work internally as well as the programs and services that we provide to federal departments and agencies.

Focusing on employee well-being and engagement in a modern and inclusive workplace

We are prioritizing a people management approach that promotes a healthy, respectful and productive workplace that supports mental health and well-being and engages employees in a modern and inclusive workplace.

We are working with designated employment equity and equity-seeking groups to address barriers to equity in the workplace. This starts with increasing the representation of underrepresented groups, as well as eliminating racism, harassment and gender-based violence in the workplace and implementing our accessibility plan.

Our Future of Work Vision aims to make employees’ work experience productive and positive, supporting their work-life balance, well-being, health and safety to enable them to provide effective service to Canadians. Our vision will bring together short-, medium- and long-term initiatives to support emerging considerations related to the workforce, workplace and technology.

Managing technical debt is essential to mitigating risks related to aging infrastructure, enhancing service delivery and operations, and attracting and retaining talent. Our internal IT services will address technical debt through initiatives to modernize our IT ecosystem and better support digital service delivery and operations.

Planning for contracts awarded to indigenous businesses

The following table shows in percentage the actual, forecasted and planned value for the target.

5% reporting field description	2021–22 actual % achieved	2022–23 forecasted % target	2023–24 planned % target
Total percentage of contracts with Indigenous businesses	38%	The Public Service Commission of Canada is part of Phase 3, and is transitioning to achieve the mandatory minimum target by 2023–24	5%

We support the federal government’s commitment to award at least 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses annually.

The Public Service Commission of Canada is part of Phase 3 of this commitment, and we will continue to achieve the mandatory minimum target by March 31, 2024. By this time, we will report annually on the departmental performance against the 5% target.

We plan to implement the following measures to meet the target:

• put in place the Mandatory Procedures for Contracts Awarded to Indigenous Businesses described in Appendix E of the Treasury Board Directive on the Management of Procurement
• adhere to the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business
• respect the Comprehensive Land Claim Agreements
• verify if firms are included in the Indigenous Business Directory
• encourage clients to procure with Indigenous businesses
• encourage Indigenous business set-asides
• whenever feasible, inform Indigenous businesses and partners of upcoming procurements, and encourage Indigenous businesses to apply on our procurements
• integrate Indigenous businesses in some departmental standing offers

Planned budgetary spending for Internal Services

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending	2025–26 planned spending
35,278,796	35,278,796	34,420,158	34,478,343

Planned human resources for Internal Services

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to carry out its internal services for 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents	2025–26 planned full-time equivalents
284	284	284

Planned spending and 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 2023–24 with actual spending for the current year and the previous year.

Planned spending

Departmental spending 2020–21 to 2025–26

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

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

The following table shows information on spending for the Public Service Commission’s core responsibility and for its internal services for 2023–24 and other fiscal years.

Spending is expected to increase from $86.0 million in 2021–22 to $95.9 million in 2022–23 due to our capacity to catch up on staffing for activities that are not under cost recovery, as well as new activities such as those related to the Public Service Employment Act amendments. We are also planning on spending a larger amount of funds in 2022–23 for executive salary ratification.

Planned human resources

The following table shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for the Public Service Commission’s core responsibility and for its internal services for 2023–24 and the other years.

Human resources planning summary for core responsibility and Internal Services

Core responsibilities and internal services	2020–21 actual full‑time equivalents	2021–22 actual full‑time equivalents	2022–23 forecast full‑time equivalents	2023–24 planned full‑time equivalents	2024–25 planned full‑time equivalents	2025–26 planned full‑time equivalents
Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship	535	512	567	567	560	560
Subtotal	535	512	567	567	560	560
Internal Services	293	263	284	284	284	284
Total	828	775	851	851	844	844

Full-time equivalents decreased from 828 in 2020–21 to 775 in 2021–22. The decrease of 53 full-time equivalents is the result of unexpected employee departures and challenges in staffing positions.

Estimates by vote

Information on the Public Service Commission’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2023–24 Main Estimates.^{Endnote 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 2022–23 to 2023–24.

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.^{Endnote 7}

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2024 (dollars)

Financial information	2022–23 forecast results	2023–24 planned results	Difference (2023–24 planned results minus 2022–23 forecast results)
Total expenses	128,738,961	128,970,931	231,431
Total revenues	-9,685,911	-14,266,878	-4,580,968
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	119,053,050	114,703,513	-4,349,537

Expenses: Total expenses for 2023–24 is planned at $128.7 million, representing a $231 K increase from the previous year’s forecasted total expenses of $129 million.

Revenues: Total revenues for 2023–24 is planned at $14.3 million, representing a $4.6 million increase over the previous year’s total revenues of $9.7 million.

Significant variances: Variance of $4.3 million between 2023–24 and 2022–23 is largely due to planning figures for 2023–24, which are based on the overall authorities for the year, whereas the 2022–23 figures are based on 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: Stan Lee, Interim President

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

Enabling instrument(s): Public Service Employment Act^{Endnote 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.^{Endnote 9}

Operating context

The federal public service is Canada’s largest employer, with almost 288 000 employees serving as climate scientists, nurses in Northern regions, fisheries officers, policy advisors and in thousands of roles that shape the country. The federal government depends on a qualified and diverse public service that reflects the range of backgrounds and worldviews that make up Canadian society.

The Public Service Commission 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 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 99 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 Canadians can be served, and federal public servants can work, in the official language of their choice, as required.

Job seekers and hiring managers increasingly expect timely and innovative approaches to hiring. Long staffing processes can cause the federal public service to miss out on high-quality candidates, who may be recruited more quickly by other employers. The pandemic has heightened the demand for digital recruitment and assessment solutions. Modernizing our outdated recruitment and assessment tools and platforms is a top priority.

Appointment processes must be effective and inclusive. We have always worked 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.

Changes to our enabling legislation, the Public Service Employment Act, are being implemented as they come into force, and we have developed tools to provide guidance to 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 which includes our authority to investigate error, omission and improper conduct that results from a bias or barrier that disadvantages equity-seeking groups; and our authority to conduct audits on whether there are biases or barriers that disadvantage equity-seeking groups in appointment processes.

Reporting framework

The Public Service Commission's^{Endnote 10} approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2023–24 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 self-identified as women
		Indicator 6 Percentage of employees who self-identified as Indigenous people
		Indicator 7 Percentage of employees who self-identified as members of visible minority groups
		Indicator 8 Percentage of employees who self-identified as persons with disabilities
		Indicator 9 Percentage of executive appointees who self-identified as Indigenous people
		Indicator 10 Percentage of new hires under the age of 35
		Indicator 11 Quebec and English-speaking applicants within Quebec)
		Indicator 12 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 13 Number of founded investigations related to political activities
		Indicator 14 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.^{Endnote 11}

Supplementary information tables

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

• 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 2023–24.

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.^{Endnote 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^{Endnote 14}

Appendix: definitions

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 document that sets out a department’s priorities, programs, expected results and associated resource requirements, covering a three-year period beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)
A change that a department seeks to influence. 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 performance in a fiscal year against its plans, priorities and expected results set out in its Departmental Plan for that year. Departmental Results Reports are usually tabled in Parliament each fall.

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 Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])
An analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs and other initiatives. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography, language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2023–24 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the Government’s agenda in the 2021 Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fighter harder for safer communities; standing up for diversity and inclusion; moving faster on the path to reconciliation and fighting for a secure, just, and equitable world.

high impact innovation (innovation à impact élevé)

High impact innovation varies per organizational context. In some cases, it could mean trying something significantly new or different from the status quo. In other cases, it might mean making incremental improvements that relate to a high-spending area or addressing problems faced by a significant number of Canadians or public servants.

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.

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, planned spending 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 a department and that focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
An inventory of a department’s programs that describes how resources are organized to carry out the department’s core responsibilities and achieve its planned 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.

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.