Meeting between Patrick Borbey, President of the PSC, and France Pégeot, Chair of the Canadian Transportation Agency

* Information valid as of July 2021

Introduction

Deputy Head

France Pégeot was appointed Chair, Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), on June 1, 2021.

France Pégeot is exercising the Public Service Commission’s (PSC’s) authority for the first time as Deputy Head (DH).  A copy of the New Direction in Staffing (NDS) highlights for DHs is attached as Annex A.

Organizational Context

Mandate

The CTA is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator that for all practical purposes has all the powers of a superior court. The CTA has three core mandates:

• To help ensure that the national transportation system runs efficiently and smoothly in the interests of all Canadians: those who work and invest in it; the producers, shippers, travellers and businesses who rely on it; and the communities where it operates; 
• To protect the human right of persons with disabilities to an accessible transportation network; and
• To provide consumer protection for air passengers.

Challenges

In view of its mandate, the CTA receives temporary funding to support various initiatives and projects such as modernization of the CTA’s regulations and the Government of Canada Workplace 2.0 Fit-up Standards. Consequently, in accordance with the Directive on Term Employment, term employees are not converted to indeterminate status after a total of three years of employment. These conditions make it more difficult to hire and retain employees, which presents a staffing challenge for the CTA. The Staffing Support Advisor assigned to the CTA frequently discusses the various staffing options available and often promotes the PSC’s recruitment programs to support them in this regard.

Experimentation

Apart from using applicant assessment tools such as group interviews, one-on-one video interviews, and standardized tests with an outside firm to improve the efficiency of its recruitment process, the CTA did not report any experimentation or innovation in recruitment.

Workforce and Staffing Activities

Workforce

The CTA is a small organization with 349 employees (as at March 31, 2021).

Staffing activities

In 2020-2021, the CTA carried out a total of 246 staffing activities:

• 130 appointments to the public service (including casual workers and students);
• 63 casual workers
• 13 students
• 53 promotions
• 32 acting appointments
• 31 lateral and downward movements

For more details on staffing activities, see Annex B. 

Time to Staff

There is insufficient data to provide results on internal or external staffing times for the CTA.

Staffing Framework

Implementation of the New Direction in Staffing

The CTA developed a new staffing framework, which was approved by the then DH in June 2016. It includes the use of advertised and non-advertised appointment processes, the area of selection and the articulation of selection decisions. The CTA also developed a template to be completed by sub-delegated managers for the articulation of selection decisions. In addition, the CTA established its staffing sub-delegation instrument. All of these policy instruments were shared with the PSC. Reporting requirements set out in Annex D of the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument

Use of the Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order and the Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations

In 2020-2021, the CTA reported no exclusions under the Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order and the Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations.

DH-approved exceptions to the national-area-of-selection requirements for an external advertised appointment process

No DH-approved exceptions to the national area of selection have been reported by the CTA since 2016.

Results of the CTA’s cyclical assessment

The CTA is one of 12 small and micro organizations participating in the Cyclical Assessment Pilot Project. Work is progressing well, and the final report will be shared with the CTA’s DH later this summer.
The report will be completed and submitted by October 2021.

Inquiries and trends

Since April 2020, the PSC has received 25 queries from the CTA. Most of the queries relate to the assessment of candidates, the Annex D reporting requirements, the cyclical assessment report, and the choice of processes (advertised versus non-advertised).

Oversight

Past audits

• The CTA was among the departments and agencies selected for the System-Wide Staffing Audit (SWSA) released in 2018.
• The SWSA was a system-wide review of staffing. A total of 25 departments and agencies participated in the audit, providing a sample of 386 appointments, two of which were CTA appointments.
• The audit report is available at https://www.canada.ca/en/public-service-commission/services/publications/results-system-wide-staffing-audit.html. 
• The CTA was also one of 30 organizations that participated in the Audit of Employment Equity Representation in Recruitment, released in January 2021. Of the 181 appointment files reviewed in this audit, three were from the CTA.
• The objective of the Audit of Employment Equity Representation in Recruitment was to determine whether the four employment equity groups were proportionately represented in recruitment processes and to identify the key factors that influence employment equity group representation in the appointment system.
• As a component of the audit follow-up, the PSC intends to develop an audit program for departments and agencies interested in conducting their own audits of employment equity representation in recruitment. The program will be ready this fall.
• The audit report is available at https://www.canada.ca/en/public-service-commission/services/publications/audit-of-employment-equity-representation-in-recruitment.html.

Investigations

The table below shows the various investigations conducted by the PSC for the CTA between June 2018 and June 2021.

Table 1 – Investigations

Nature of Issue	Cases Received	Cases Referred by Organization	Closed – Not Accepted	Completed Unfounded	Completed Founded	Ongoing
S. 66 External appointments (merit, error, omission, improper conduct)	1	0	1	0	0	0
S. 69 Fraud	2	1	1	0	1	0
S. 118 Improper political activities – Employees	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	3	1	2	0	1	0

Notes:

• The number of received cases may not add up to the number of completed/closed cases as completed/closed cases are not necessarily cases that were received in the same period. In addition, some cases may have been discontinued or resolved through early intervention.
• The numbers may not add up, as discontinued cases, cases resolved via facilitated resolution, and rare cases (s. 119, subs. 67(1)) are not included in the table.
• Each column is totalled independently of the others. Cases received are those received during the period; cases completed are those completed during the period, so they may not be included in received cases.

A few details about the founded investigation:

• An employee committed fraud in an appointment process conducted by the CTA by knowingly submitting an application containing false information and by falsifying a letter of offer from his former department in order to obtain an indeterminate position.
• The corrective measures ordered included requiring the employee to notify the PSC before accepting any position or employment in the federal public service for a period of three years and to complete the Canada School of Public Service’s Values and Ethics Foundations for Employees course, followed by a discussion with his director. A copy of the investigation report and the record of decision were forwarded to his DH.

New community of practice for investigators

• The CTA is a member of the federal government’s investigators’ community.
• The PSC currently offers information sessions and customized workshops to help investigators prevent and detect staffing irregularities. To book an activity, the CTA can contact the Investigations Division at CFP.Enquetes-Investigations.PSC@cfp-psc.gc.ca.

Results of the Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey

Overall, the CTA’s results of the Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey (SNPS) are above the average for organizations of similar size and for the public service, in terms of favourable perceptions of staffing knowledge.

The key results of the 2018 SNPS for the CTA are as follows:

• 57.4% of employees indicated that people hired in their work unit can do the job, compared with 67.1% in similar-size organizations and 53.8% across all organizations in the federal public service;
• 21.1% of managers agreed that they felt external pressure to select a particular employee, compared with 9% in similar-size organizations and 12.7% across all organizations in the federal public service;
• 18.6% of managers reported no or minimal understanding of the provisions that help veterans gain employment in the federal public service, as compared to 30.4% in similar‑size organizations and 34.2% across all organizations in the federal public service;
• 53.3% of managers feel staffing is not quick enough, compared with 45% in similar-size organizations and 62.4% across all organizations in the federal public service.

Diversity Profile

The Clerk of the Privy Council asked senior executives to commit to measurable change with respect to diversity and inclusion in the public service, including the creation of staffing plans to address gaps in employment equity group representation.

The CTA has an overrepresentation of women and visible minorities. However, persons with disabilities are underrepresented in the organization. Information for Indigenous people has been removed from the table below to avoid disclosure affecting the identity of individuals.

Table 2 – Diversity Profile

Designated Group	Workforce Availability	CTA (2019-2020)	CTA (2018-2019)	Representation in the Public Service
Women	52.7%	55.0%	57.2%	55%
Indigenous people	4.0%	*	*	5.1%
Persons with disabilities	9.0%	5.4%	5.3%	5.2%
Visible minorities	15.3%	19.2%	18.9%	17.8%

Sources:

Employment Equity in the Public Service of Canada for Fiscal Year 2019 to 2020, Treasury Board Secretariat
Employment Equity in the Public Service of Canada for Fiscal Year 2018 to 2019, Treasury Board Secretariat

In addition, the following data shows the current gap in the representation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the CTA and the estimated level of recruitment required to close the gap over the next five years, taking into account factors such as attrition:

• PWD representation: 5.4%
• PWD workforce availability (WFA): 9.0%
• Gap between WFA and representation: 3.6%
• Closing the gap: Increase in PWD numbers needed to reach the WFA level over five years: 9
• Closing the gap: Recruitment needed to achieve the increase in PWD numbers over five years (estimate): 17

To close employment equity gaps, specifically the PWD gap, the CTA uses advertised appointment processes with an area of selection restricted to employment equity groups. It also conducts non-advertised appointment processes.

The following solutions may also be helpful in continuing to build a representative and diverse organization:

• The Public Service Employment Act includes provisions that enable managers to
• Target members of designated groups within the selection area for advertised appointment processes;
• Establish and apply an organizational need to appoint members of designated groups;
• Use external and internal non-advertised appointment processes to appoint members of designated groups;
• The PSC offers recruitment solutions for members of designated groups, including
• Seeking candidate referrals from designated groups when using student programs such as the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP) and the Co‑op/Internship Program, with a plan that could eventually include recruiting students into the public service;
• Advertising under the Research Affiliate Program to recruit students from designated groups;
• Seeking candidate referrals from designated groups when using certain inventories such as Post-Secondary Recruitment.

Priority Entitlements and Veterans

Priority appointments

Between April 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021, the CTA did not make any priority appointments.

Appointments of persons with a Canadian Armed Forces priority entitlement

Between the coming into force of the Veterans Hiring Act on July 1, 2015, and May 31, 2021, the organization did not make any appointments of persons with a CAF priority entitlement.

Requests for priority clearance

Between April 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021, the CTA submitted 92 priority clearance requests.

Table 3 – Requests for priority clearance

Types of priority clearance	Number	Percentage
Internal advertised processes Internal advertised (12) Appointments from a pool of qualified candidates (12) Process targeting employment equity groups (1)	11 13	26%
Internal non-advertised	16	17%
External advertised processes External advertised (43) Appointments from a pool of qualified candidates (25) Processes targeting employment equity groups (4)	17 8 3	30%
External non-advertised	18	20%
Priority appointment (including term and indeterminate appointments)	1	1%
Student bridging	4	4%
Section 43	1	1%
Totals	92	100%

Source: Priority Information Management System

COVID-19 priority clearance requests

Since the Priority Entitlement Policy Division began monitoring COVID-19 priority clearance requests, the CTA has submitted five requests to the PSC.

Priority persons

As of June 28, 2021, the CTA had one person with priority entitlement in the Priority Information Management System.

Non-partisanship in the Public Service

• The CTA’s designated political activities representative (DPAR) is Flora Sigeris. The DPAR liaises with the PSC on matters related to political activities and non-partisanship.
• In past years, the PSC has not received any requests from CTA employees to run for political office.
• Under the Political Activities Regulations, the PSC has 30 calendar days to render a decision on a request for permission to be a candidate in an election. We encourage employees, with the support of their organization, to submit their requests for permission as soon as possible so that the PSC can render a decision in a timely manner.
• According to the 2018 SNPS, 84.6% of CTA employees were aware of their rights and responsibilities regarding participation in political activities, compared with 80.1% for the public service as a whole.

Recruitment Programs

The CTA has not yet engaged with the PSC regarding the use of any of its student, Indigenous or PWD recruitment programs. The Staffing Support Advisor (SSA) assigned to the CTA shared information on the recruitment programs available to increase the representation of those groups within the organization.

Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities

While the CTA does not currently participate in the Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities, the program contributes to the Government of Canada’s Accessibility Strategy, which aims to increase the economic inclusion of 125 women, men and people of diverse gender identities with physical and/or cognitive disabilities and limited work experience by developing key skills for future employment. The program offers for a 50% salary reimbursement to hiring departments for the two‑year internship period. It also provides managers and interns with career counselling services offered by Public Services and Procurement Canada and tools to support intern development, such as recommended training offered by the Canada School of Public Service.

In its first year, the program resulted in 20 interns being hired by eight organizations, and 55 interns are being hired in collaboration with 28 departments for the second cohort. The CTA did not hire an intern in either cohort, but it is currently in the process of hiring an intern.

Qualified candidates (AS-01s) from the second cohort will be available to hiring organizations in the coming months. Processing of the third cohort will begin in the fall of 2021.

If the CTA wishes to hire interns, managers can explore the option by emailing cfp.diversitedetalent-talentdiversity.psc@canada.ca.

Employment Opportunity for Students with Disabilities / Indigenous Student Employment Opportunity 

• The CTA submitted one request for students with disabilities and none for Indigenous students through FSWEP between April 30, 2020, and April 30, 2021.
• The Employment Opportunity for Students with Disabilities (EOSD) and the Indigenous Student Employment Opportunity (ISEO) are excellent recruitment options to increase workplace diversity by hiring students with disabilities or Indigenous students.
• Managers and students are provided with resources such as onboarding tools, training, and networking events.
• Candidates are available year-round through the FSWEP ongoing inventory:
• Number of students available in the EOSD: 4,222
• Number of students available in ISEO: 2,002

Federal Student Work Experience Program

• The CTA submitted nine requests for students under FSWEP between April 30, 2020, and April 30, 2021.
• In addition, the CTA has hired 32 FSWEP students over the past four years.
• FSWEP is a great program to help you renew your workforce and bring new energy, ideas and approaches to your workplace.
• There are 68,918 students in the program. 

Post-Secondary Recruitment

• The CTA submitted a request for referrals from the 2020-2021 Post-Secondary Recruitment inventories to staff a position in the PM category; we referred nine candidates.

Participation in targeted recruitment programs

• The PSC, in collaboration with the Human Resources Council, has developed two initiatives to support the representation of underrepresented groups. The following is a review of recent activities.
• On March 31, 2021, two new inventories for PWDs were launched in the Data and Policy fields for analyst positions in the Economics and Social Science Services (EC) Group and in the Digital Technology field for positions in the Computer Systems (CS) Group, which will soon be converted to a new Information Technology (IT) classification.
• Each inventory has attracted and recruited more than 150 candidates with disabilities since it was launched. 
• The inventories will be ready this summer, and organizations are encouraged to contact the PSC to discuss how they can contribute to the success of these initiatives.
• Based on the current success, additional inventories are planned in the fields of Finance and Sciences.
• The Working Group is working with departments and agencies to establish a centralized inventory of assessed and qualified candidates with disabilities who are in externally advertised departmental pools, ready to be hired.
• By participating in this inventory, candidates will be considered for employment opportunities across the public service without having to reapply. 
• This inventory will be available to all departments and agencies as a quick and efficient additional staffing option.
• If the CTA wishes to participate in this initiative, it should contact the PSC at cfp.produitsdetalents-talentproducts.psc@canada.ca.

Participation in Indigenous hiring initiatives

While the PSC has not collaborated with the CTA on specific initiatives, the Indigenous Career Pathways (ICP) is an initiative that may help the organization by supporting the hiring of Indigenous persons. For more information, contact the Aboriginal Centre of Expertise.

The ICP provides managers and human resources specialists with expertise and support in the area of Indigenous recruitment. It offers two tools:

• Inventory of Indigenous Applicants
• Ten graduates are currently available in the inventory.
• The Inventory of Indigenous Applicants is in the building process. It includes an up-to-date list of qualified Indigenous graduates and candidates in various Government of Canada pools, such as Post-Secondary Recruitment. Applicants will be referred only at the request of managers.
• Indigenous Recruitment Toolbox
• The Toolbox focuses on the Indigenous hiring process and consists of available tools and resources. It is intended to help departments hire more Indigenous candidates by sharing best practices such as gathering knowledge and advice from departments on outreach activities, for example.
• A survey has been added to the toolbox to measure its effectiveness and areas for improvement.
• For more information about Indigenous recruitment programs, see the Indigenous recruitment – Information for hiring managers web page.

Staffing Support

PSC representatives and organizational contacts

The SSA assigned to the CTA is Caroline Fortin-Beaudry. The main contact person for the CTA is Human Resources Advisor Flora Sigeris, and the head of Human Resources is Chief Corporate Officer Mireille Drouin.

PREPARED BY:

Caroline Fortin-Beaudry
Staffing Support Advisor

APPROVED BY:

Lynn Brault
Director General, Staffing Support, Priorities and Political Activities Directorate
Policy and Communications Sector

Gaveen Cadotte
Vice-President, Policy and Communications Sector

Annexes:

• Annex A – New Direction in Staffing (NDS) highlights for DHs
• Annex B – Workforce and staffing activity statistics

Annex A

A New Direction in Staffing – A Merit-Based System That is Effective, Efficient and Fair

Appointment Policy

New focus on core requirements to provide sub-delegated persons with greater discretion in making an appointment

• One Appointment Policy, no duplication of legal requirements
• Broader focus on values-based system, away from rules-based system
• Appointment Policy supported by streamlined guidance:
• A roadmap to the legislative, regulatory and policy requirements
• Options and considerations for decision making where there is discretion
• Clear expectations for priority entitlements
• No restrictions on assessment methods for EX appointments
• Exceptions to National Area of Selection approved by deputy head

Delegation

• New ability to customize organizational staffing system based on unique context and evolving business needs
• Deputy heads establish a direction on the use of advertised and non-advertised appointment processes
• Deputy heads to establish requirement(s) for sub-delegated persons to articulate, in writing, their selection decision
• Clarity on requirements related to investigations
• Attestation form to reinforce the accountabilities of sub-delegated persons

All PSC monitoring and reporting requirements now found in the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument

Monitoring and Reporting

Monitoring built by organizations, targeted to their needs

• Annual Departmental Staffing Accountability Report no longer required
• Annual reporting to the PSC limited to:
• Use of Public Service Official Language Exclusion Approval Order
• Exceptions to the National Area of Selection approved by the deputy head
• Results of any internal investigations
• Actions taken following any PSC investigations or audits.
• Deputy head responsible for ongoing monitoring of organizational staffing system based on the organization’s unique context
• Assessment of adherence to requirements, based on organization’s own risks, every five years, at a minimum.

PSC Oversight

System-wide focus

• Government-wide compliance audit every two years
• Renewed Survey of Staffing administered in alternating years with government-wide audit
• System-wide effectiveness and efficiency reviews to support continuous improvement
• Targeted PSC audits as a result of identified system-wide or organizational risks or at the request of deputy head
• Investigations conducted when there is reason to believe there was political influence, fraud or improper conduct in an appointment process

This document should be read in conjunction with the Public Service Employment Act, the Public Service Employment Regulations, the PSC Appointment Policyand the PSC Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument.

Annex B

Population by tenure as of March 31

Population by language requirements as of March 31, 2021

Population by occupational group as of March 31, 2021

Population by region as of March 31, 2021

External indeterminate hires by occupational group, 2020-2021

Staffing by region

* Regional distribution excludes unknowns

Staffing by process type

• Includes indeterminate and specified term appointments
• Excludes lateral and downward movements, deployments and acting appointments of less than 4 months
• Includes only appointments where the staffing process type is known (75% to 84% of appointments)

Staffing by appointment type

Staffing by tenure

Key findings - Staffing and non-partisanship survey (2018)

• 57.4% of employees agreed that people hired can do the job, compared to 67.1% in organizations of similar size, and 53.8% in the federal public service
• 46.8% of managers agreed that the New Direction in Staffing has improved the way they hire and appoint persons to and within their organization, compared to 69.7% in organizations of similar size, and 56.1% in the federal public service
• 75.7% of managers agreed that within their organization, the administrative to staff a position is burdensome, compared to 79.3% in organizations of similar size, and 87.9% in the federal public service.

Student program hires

Post-Secondary Recruitment Program and former student hires

*Hiring of former students includes indeterminate and term hires with experience in a federal student recruitment program within the last 10 years.

Internal time to staff

External time to staff

Technical Notes:

• The Time to Staff - Internal Appointments (TTS-IA) is the median number of calendar days between the opening date of an internal advertisement and the date of the first Notice of Appointment or Proposal of Appointment (NAPA) from the Public Service Resourcing System for internal term and indeterminate positions. As NAPAs are not required for all internal staffing actions, this measure is limited to reporting on internal promotional appointments
• Only estimated term and indeterminate appointments/notifications are included (deployments, casual and acting appointments are excluded)
• The Time to Staff - External Appointments (TTS-EA) is the median number of calendar days between the opening date of an external advertisement and the date of the first estimated appointment of an individual from outside an organization subject to the Public Service Employment Act for term and indeterminate positions. Only estimated term and indeterminate appointments/notifications are included (deployments, casual and acting appointments are excluded)
• Because data between systems is linked using a deterministic match, errors in data linkage are a potential source of measurement error

Sources:

• Hiring and staffing activities data are derived from information received from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Incumbent File.  The Incumbent File is extracted from the Public Services and Procurement Canada’s pay system.  The data constitutes an estimate of hiring and staffing activities to and within organizations
• Information from the Priority Information Management System and the Public Services Resourcing System is also used to determine if staffing actions are advertised or non-advertised as well as for calculating time to staff
• The data are not expected to match an organization’s human resources data, due to methodology and timing differences