General items: Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates—April 29, 2022
Document navigation for "Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates: April 29, 2022"
Opening statement
By:
The Honourable Filomena Tassi
Minister of Public Services and Procurement
Minister Responsible for Shared Services Canada
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates
Mandate letter, Main Estimates and departmental plan
April 29, 2022
(Word count: 1,400)
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, committee members, thank you for inviting me to appear before you today.
Let me begin by acknowledging that I am joining virtually from Hamilton, which is located on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee [hoe dee na SHOW nee] and the Anishinaabe [a-nish-nah-bay] peoples.
With me are Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC): Deputy Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, Paul Thompson and Associate Deputy Minister, Arianne Reza as well as other departmental officials.
Shared Services Canada (SSC): President of Shared Services Canada, Sony Perron, Matt Davies, Chief Technology Officer and Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Samantha Hazen as well as other departmental officials.
I am pleased to be here for the first time as Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Minister responsible for Shared Services Canada to discuss my mandate letter, as well as this fiscal year’s Main Estimates and departmental plans for both PSPC and SSC.
I would also like to thank the committee and its members for being so accommodating and agreeing to reschedule my appearance after my medical issue forced me to cancel our previously scheduled meeting.
I also want to thank all of you who sent well-wishes—it was greatly appreciated.
Mr. Chair, PSPC has a wide ranging mandate and touches on many aspects of daily and long-term government operations.
As a common service provider, the department works to support the whole of government as it serves Canadians—from procurement to managing government buildings to being the pay and pension administrator for the public service, and more.
Similarly, SSC delivers a wide array of information technology (IT) services to government organizations, so that they, in turn, are positioned to deliver digital programs and services that meet the needs of Canadians.
The array of commitments I have been asked to deliver on are complex, multi-year, and often multi-mandate, endeavours.
Many of these priorities build on work led by my predecessors, and I am proud to continue delivering these important commitments for the benefit of all Canadians.
Let me begin by speaking to the important role PSPC continues to play to support Canada’s ongoing response to the pandemic.
While our aggressive procurement approach has resulted in a secure supply of vaccines and personal protective equipment (PPE), there is still more to do.
Rapid tests and therapeutics are in high demand across the globe, and we are working to ensure we have enough supply of those commodities.
We will continue working closely with our public health counterparts to secure whatever is needed as we make our way to the other side of this pandemic.
To date, Canada has procured, and received, 604 million rapid antigen tests—598 million of which have been distributed to the provinces and territories.
We have contracts for 9 different therapeutic treatments giving us access to 1.7 million treatment courses.
Canada has contracts in place with the world’s leading vaccine suppliers for all vaccines currently approved by Health Canada—as well as access to supplies of future formulations that will protect us against variants.
Today, the Prime Minister announced the next steps in assuring Canada has a secure domestic supply of the latest vaccines through an agreement with Moderna to set-up a manufacturing facility in the Montreal region.
Tens of millions of N-95 respirators are being produced in Canada every month thanks to our long-term contracts with Medicom and 3M.
In short, Mr. Chair, PSPC and our whole team continues to deliver for Canada and Canadians as we work to finish the fight against COVID.
At the same time, another crisis has emerged on the world’s stage requiring a global response.
We have all witnessed the horrors unfolding in Ukraine following Russia’s unprovoked and unjustifiable attack on that sovereign nation.
Now more than perhaps at any time since the second world war, it is essential for all democratic nations to stand united and unfaltering in our support of Ukrainian sovereignty.
We are working with our partners in government and abroad to facilitate and provide the necessary logistics in order to support the Government of Ukraine as well as the people of Ukraine—both for those who are staying to fight and those who are fleeing the horrific violence.
Additionally, when it comes to protecting Canadians, our government is dedicated to ensuring that the Canadian Armed Forces have what they need to deliver on commitments at home and abroad.
Mr. Chair, I can tell you that we continue with the ongoing delivery of defence procurements.
That includes the purchase of new fighter jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Following a rigorous evaluation of the proposals, the government has entered into the finalization phase of the process with the United States and Lockheed Martin.
We are on track to reach an agreement later this year, with delivery of aircraft as early as 2025.
We also continue to work with our partners to renew the fleets of the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy.
Procurement is an important part of my mandate. It is also a powerful lever that we are using to drive just and inclusive economic prosperity.
Mr. Chair, I’m proud to say we are making progress in this regard.
For example, as we continue to walk the path of reconciliation, we are leading the implementation of a requirement to ensure that a minimum of 5% of the value of federal contracts are held by businesses led by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.
More broadly, my department has launched a Supplier Diversity Action Plan that includes pilot projects to increase the participation of under represented groups in federal procurement.
For example, our Black business procurement pilot project led to the government awarding a series of contracts, and we received important feedback from the community about the process.
Pilot projects, such as this one, are guiding changes to policies and processes that will help remove barriers to full participation in procurement for all suppliers.
Mr. Chair, in addition to levelling the playing field for underrepresented businesses, we are doing our part to tackle forced labour.
This is a concerning reality internationally, and we will support the Minister of Labour in introducing and implementing legislation that keeps our supply chains free of human rights abuses.
In the meantime, we have introduced clauses in our contracts that place the onus on suppliers to keep their supply chains free of force labour. Those that fail to do so can have their contracts terminated.
The department also has other important work underway, including the renovation and rehabilitation of the parliamentary precinct.
This highly complex, multi-decade work will continue to honour our history while ensuring that these iconic buildings meet the needs of a 21st century Parliament.
Mr. Chair, my department also continues to support the environmental sustainability of government operations.
An example of this is our Energy Services Acquisition Program, where we are modernizing the district energy system that heats and cools 80 buildings in the National Capital Region.
We have already cut greenhouse gas emissions by 57% from the baseline year of 2005 and we are on track of meeting our goal of being net-zero emissions by 2030.
Mr. Chair, public servants have worked tirelessly to support these and so many other government efforts.
Like all workers, they deserve to be paid accurately and on time.
This remains a top priority and we continue our efforts to resolve the backlog of pay transactions and stabilize pay operations.
Concurrently, Shared Services Canada is advancing work on the Next Generation Human Resources and Pay Solution—one that is flexible, modern and integrated.
Like PSPC, Shared Services Canada plays a vital role in supporting government operations.
Of note, SSC is working on several fronts to provide public servants with modern tools, update government IT systems, and deliver digital services to Canadians that are secure, reliable and easy to use—at any time, from any device.
I would also note that throughout the pandemic, SSC adapted to new realities, for example, by launching new online collaboration tools for public servants working from home.
Similar to PSPC, SSC will continue to advance government-wide initiatives to increase the diversity of bidders so that more companies have access government IT contract opportunities.
Mr. Chair, I have touched upon just a fraction of the important work of PSPC and SSC as outlined in each departmental plan and in my mandate letter.
To deliver on our mandate and help PSPC continue to deliver on these priorities this fiscal year, we are requesting just over $4.6 billion in the 2022 to 2023 Main Estimates.
And for SSC, we are requesting the department’s reference levels to increase by $710.8 million to $2.6 billion.
I am happy to take your questions regarding these Main Estimates, departmental plans and my mandate letter.
Thank you.