Chief Information Officer Transition Binder - July 21, 2021

On this page

• About the Government of Canada
• TBS introductory briefing for the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer
• OCIO 101: introductory briefing
• The role of the Chief Information Officer
• OCIO divisional mandates
• Digital government
• Governance Reference Guide

About the Government of Canada

In this section

• Introduction
• Structure
• Cabinet committee membership
  • Cabinet’s role

Introduction

Three branches work together to govern Canada: the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The executive branch (also called the Government) is the decision-making branch, made up of the Monarch represented by the Governor General, the Prime Minister, and the Cabinet. The legislative branch is the law-making branch, made up of the appointed Senate and the elected House of Commons. The judicial branch is a series of independent courts that interpret the laws passed by the other two branches. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, which means that we recognize the Queen as the Head of State, while the Prime Minister is the Head of Government.

Structure

The Canadian government has three main levels of government: federal, provincial and municipal. The federal government makes decisions that affect Canadians every day. This level of government deals with areas of law listed in the Constitution Act, 1867 and that generally affect the whole country. The federal government has powers that are different from those of provincial governments, including: national defence, foreign affairs, employment insurance, banking, federal taxes, the post office, fisheries, shipping, railways, telephones and pipelines, Aboriginal lands and rights and criminal law. The federal government tries to make things fairer among the provinces. Through equalization payments (extra money) given to provinces that are less wealthy, the federal government tries to make sure that the standards of health, education and welfare are the same for every Canadian.

In the same way that it lists the powers of the federal government, the Constitution Act, 1867 lists the powers of the provinces, including: direct taxes, hospitals, prisons, education, marriage, property and civil rights.

Canada is also a constitutional monarchy, in that its executive authority is vested formally in the Queen through the Constitution. Every act of government is carried out in the name of the Crown, but the authority for those acts flows from the Canadian people. The executive function belongs to the Governor General acting with, and on the advice of, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.

Cabinet committee membership

Canada’s Cabinet—by constitutional convention—is the body of advisors that sets the federal government’s policies and priorities for the country. Together they act in the name of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada.

The Governor General appoints the members of Cabinet on the advice of the Prime Minister. Cabinet members are generally selected from the House of Commons, however, from time to time, a Senator may be included to ensure all parts of the country are represented. The Governor General almost always acts on Cabinet’s advice.

These are the current Cabinet committees under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:

• Cabinet Committee on Agenda, Results and Communications
• Cabinet Committee on Operations
• Cabinet Committee on Economy and the Environment
• Cabinet Committee on Reconciliation
• Cabinet Committee on Health and Social Affairs
• Cabinet Committee on Global Affairs and Public Security
• Cabinet Committee on the federal response to the Coronavirus disease (COVID‑19)
• Cabinet Sub-committee on Litigation Management
• Treasury Board
• Incident Response Group

Cabinet’s role

In Canada, the Cabinet system performs several key functions:

• securing agreement among Ministers on government priorities
• securing agreement on parliamentary actions by the government
• providing a forum for ministerial debate on issues of general interest
• providing adequate information to Ministers on decisions for which they will be held responsible
• providing adequate information to the Prime Minister to carry out his or her responsibilities and leadership role

The collective and individual roles and responsibilities of Ministers in Canada’s parliamentary system are outlined in Open and Accountable Government (2015). This document addresses a range of administrative, procedural and institutional matters. It also outlines standards of conduct expected of Ministers and provides guidance to ministerial exempt staff.

TBS introductory briefing for the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer

In this section

• 1. Roles of the President of the Treasury Board
• 2. Treasury Board at a glance
• 3. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat at a glance

1. Roles of the President of the Treasury Board

In this section

• The President of the Treasury Board
• Overview of roles as President of the Treasury Board
  • Treasury Board
  • Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
  • Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Portfolio
• The roles of the Treasury Board and its Secretariat
  • Treasury Board
  • Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
• Treasury Board
  • Spending oversight
  • Employer
  • Administrative leadership
  • Regulatory oversight
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
  • Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat key facts
  • Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat core responsibilities
  • Responsibilities as Minister of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Portfolio
  • Canada School of Public Service: departmental corporation
  • Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada: Agent of Parliament (arm’s length)
  • Public Sector Integrity Commissioner: Agent of Parliament (arm’s length)
  • Public Sector Pension Investment Board: Crown corporation (arm’s length)

The President of the Treasury Board

• The Treasury Board was established in 1867 as the first Cabinet committee and is the only one enshrined in legislation. It takes the final decision on expenditures and regulations.
• The Treasury Board President is the Chair of the Treasury Board and also oversees the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, setting the management agenda for the Government of Canada in the areas of people, money and technology.
• The President serves as the gatekeeper to the Board and sets its agenda, supporting the management and implementation of initiatives across government.
• The President is supported by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, which provides integrated advice from across the department.

Overview of roles as President of the Treasury Board

Treasury Board

The President of the Treasury Board chairs Treasury Board meetings and:

• acts as gatekeeper, deciding what is brought to the Treasury Board
• guides discussions to maintain focus on due diligence and impact
• plays a central role in Cabinet, bringing the Board’s focus on implementation and impact to Cabinet meetings

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

The President is responsible for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat:

• establishes the management practices that dictate how finances, human resources (HR) and information technology (IT) operate across government
• approves the form and approach to tabling the Estimates in Parliament

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Portfolio

The President of the Treasury Board is the Minister responsible for a portfolio of four organizations:

1. Canada School of Public Service
2. Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
3. Public Sector Integrity Commissioner
4. Public Sector Pension Investment Board

The roles of the Treasury Board and its Secretariat

Treasury Board

• Authority is derived from the Financial Administration Act
• Treasury Board Ministers make the final decision on expenditures and regulations
• Sets the rules for the management of people, finances, technology and administration
• The Treasury Board is the Cabinet committee designated by the Prime Minister to make recommendations to the Governor General:
  • This means it functions as the Governor in Council for regulations and most orders in council (the Privy Council Office is responsible for orders in council for senior appointments)
• Typically meets weekly while Parliament is in session

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

• Key responsibilities are to provide integrated advice to Treasury Board Ministers in the management and administration of government, and to fulfill the statutory responsibilities of a central government agency
• To fulfill its mandate, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat organizes its business and resources around four core responsibilities:
  1. spending oversight
  2. administrative leadership
  3. employer
  4. regulatory oversight

Treasury Board

The President of the Treasury Board chairs the Treasury Board, a Cabinet committee with responsibilities for the following:

Spending oversight

• Providing due diligence before approving the use of new money that has been set aside in the Budget, including for major procurements, new programs, and grants and contributions
• The government is responsible for around $300 billion^{Footnote 1} in planned budgetary expenditures, and the Treasury Board plays a central role in the government decision-making process

Employer

• Determining the terms and conditions of employment for the public service
• Approves collective agreements
• The federal public service is Canada’s largest employer; the core public administration, which the Treasury Board employs, has over 287,000 employees^{Footnote 2}

Administrative leadership

• Establishing the rule sets for people, IT, expenditure management and regulations
• Reviewing spending plans on departmental initiatives and making decisions that affect services to Canadians

Regulatory oversight

• Establishing regulations that impact the health, safety and security of Canadians, the economy and the environment
• Over 50 government departments and agencies have regulatory responsibilities that impact the economy and lives of Canadians

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

The President is responsible for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat as a department and sets the strategic direction of the organization.

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat key facts

• 2,276 employees^{Footnote 3}
• $7 billion in planned budgetary expenditures (2021–22 Main Estimates)^{Footnote 4}
• Senior officials:
  • Secretary: Peter Wallace
  • Associate Secretary: Erin O’Gorman
  • Chief Human Resources Officer: Christine Donoghue
  • Comptroller General: Roch Huppé
  • Chief Information Officer (Acting): Marc Brouillard
  • Deputy Minister of Public Service Accessibility: Yazmine Laroche

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat core responsibilities

As the administrative arm of the Treasury Board, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat provides leadership to help departments effectively implement government priorities and meet citizens’ evolving expectations of government.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s four core responsibilities mirror those of the Treasury Board, which are:

1. spending oversight
2. administrative leadership
3. employer
4. regulatory oversight

Responsibilities as Minister of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

• Provides policy direction to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
• Brings forward Treasury Board submissions related to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s mandate
• Approves and presents proposals to Cabinet related to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s mandate
• Establishes the form and tabling of the Estimates
• Establishes the form and tabling of the Public Accounts
• Receives and tables a wide range of reports under legislation or Treasury Board policies

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Portfolio

The President has oversight responsibilities for four portfolio agencies. This includes responsibility for the legislation governing these bodies and tabling any amendments in Parliament.

Canada School of Public Service: departmental corporation

Taki Sarantakis, President

• Provides training and learning for the federal public administration
• Reports to Parliament through the President of the Treasury Board

Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada: Agent of Parliament (arm’s length)

Nancy Bélanger, Commissioner

• Establishes and maintains the Registry of Lobbyists, the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct and conducts investigations
• Reports directly to Parliament on matters under the mandate
• Reports to Parliament through the President on accountability and budgetary matters

Public Sector Integrity Commissioner: Agent of Parliament (arm’s length)

Joe Friday, Commissioner

• Provides an independent mechanism for public servants to disclose potential wrongdoing in the workplace
• Reports directly to Parliament on matters under the mandate
• Reports to Parliament through the President on accountability and budgetary matters

Public Sector Pension Investment Board: Crown corporation (arm’s length)

Neil Cunningham, President and Chief Executive Officer

• The Crown corporation is tasked with managing employer and employee contributions to public service pension plans
• Reports to Parliament through the President of the Treasury Board

2. Treasury Board at a glance

In this section

• About the Treasury Board
  • Part A: management board
  • Part B: Governor in Council
• Where the Treasury Board fits
• How the Treasury Board helps implement the government’s agenda
  • Cabinet focuses on the what
  • The Treasury Board focuses on the how
  • Treasury Board lenses
• Key features of the Treasury Board
• The roles of the Treasury Board
  • Part A
    • Expenditure manager
    • Management board
    • Employer
  • Part B
    • Regulatory oversight
• Role 1: expenditure manager
  • Top three major statutory spending items: Main Estimates 2019–20
  • Top three major non-statutory spending items: Main Estimates 2019–20
• Role 2: management board
  • What we own: assets
  • What we buy: procurement
  • What we support: transfer payments
• Role 2: management board and the Treasury Board policy suite
• Role 3: employer
• Role 4: regulatory oversight
  • Regulations
  • Orders in council
• Conclusion
  • Part A
  • Part B
• Annex A: how the Treasury Board works
  • Due diligence
  • Secretariat provides advice
  • Cases are presented at the Treasury Board
  • Treasury Board Ministers challenge and decide
• Annex B: Examples of Treasury Board business

About the Treasury Board

Established in 1867, the Treasury Board is the only statutory Cabinet Committee. It has two distinct functions:

Part A: management board

Makes decisions about:

• funds (expenditure manager)
• authorities, rules and compliance (management board)
• people (employer)

Treasury Board responsibilities are delegated by the Financial Administration Act, which creates the Board’s public service support:

• Secretary
• Comptroller General

Chief Human Resources Officer

Chief Information Officer

Part B: Governor in Council

Since 2003, the Treasury Board has been designated as the Cabinet Committee responsible for considering Governor in Council matters.

Makes recommendations to the Governor General about:

• regulations
• most orders in council (that is, non-appointment orders in council)

In addition to the Financial Administration Act, over 20 other statutes establish the Treasury Board’s roles and authorities. Powers and responsibilities are also set out in regulations, orders in council, policies, guidelines and practices.

Where the Treasury Board fits

Between the genesis of a policy idea and its implementation by a department, Ministers must secure certain approvals to ensure policy alignment, affordability and feasibility.

Figure 1 - Text version

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Combined, these key decisions help ensure the government can deliver its agenda effectively.

How the Treasury Board helps implement the government’s agenda

Cabinet focuses on the what

For example:

• helps formulate government agenda and set priorities and strategy (for example, parliamentary, communications)
• approves policy and legislative proposals
• government-wide issues management and communications
• approves most Governor in Council appointments (judicial and non-judicial)
• reviews progress against the key commitments (in some cases)

The Treasury Board focuses on the how

For example:

• ensures all initiatives respect the Financial Administration Act and Government of Canada policies
• ensures departmental implementation plans and resource requests are reasonable
• approves changes to departmental budgets via the Estimates process

Treasury Board lenses

• Alignment: Does the proposal align with the government’s policy goals?
• Design: How is the program or regulation designed?
• Value: Does the proposal represent good value?
• Risk: Are solid risk mitigation plans in place for the overall risks of the proposal?
• Implementation capacity: Does the proposal work within the department’s existing administrative capacity?
• Impact: Will it achieve outcomes? How will these be measured?

Key features of the Treasury Board

The Treasury Board ensures financial and Treasury Board policy suite compliance at the program design stage.

Ministers play a corporate role as opposed to representing their own departmental priorities.

High-volume Cabinet committee with a wide scope of decision-making authority: the Treasury Board takes approximately 1,400 decisions per year.

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat officials present proposals, unlike at Cabinet, where Ministers present their proposals: officials’ advice is provided to all Treasury Board Ministers, not just the Chair.

The roles of the Treasury Board

Part A

Expenditure manager

• Oversees government expenditure plans and the stewardship of public funds (government spending of around $300 billion^{Footnote 5} in the 2018–19 fiscal year)
• Ensures that government decisions with financial implications are included in Estimates and supply bills for parliamentary approval
• Sets policies and rules for departments on how they spend money

Management board

• Sets rules on how government is managed (the Treasury Board is responsible for 31 policies)
• Provides authorities for new programs, projects, transfer payments and contracts
• Sets policies to support prudent and effective management and comptrollership

Employer

• Sets rules for employee management, oversees collective bargaining and labour relations (total of approximately 220,000 employees, 185,000 represented or unionized, 28 collective agreements)
• Sets policies to support the public service (for example, performance management, learning and training)
• Sets terms and conditions of employment (which are the basis of collective agreements)

Part B

Regulatory oversight

• Oversees most orders in council and regulations, and promotes regulatory cooperation within Canada and (increasingly) with the United States
• Regulations on areas such as food and drug safety, environmental protection, transportation safety
• Orders in council can include authority to enter into an international agreement and bringing legislation into force

Role 1: expenditure manager

• Treasury Board decisions on new and existing funds play a role in determining the amount of money departments can spend and how they can spend it
• The Treasury Board also plays a central role in how the government plans and reports its spending (“the business of supply”):
  • this includes approving departmental requests for funds to be included in the Estimates for spending approval from Parliament
  • statutory authorities are those that Parliament has approved through existing legislation; this spending is included in the Estimates for information only

Top three major statutory spending items: Main Estimates 2019–20

• Old Age Security: $42.8 billion
• Canada Health Transfer: $40.4 billion
• Fiscal Equalization: $19.8 billion

Top three major non-statutory spending items: Main Estimates 2019–20

• National Defence Operations and Programs: $15.8 billion
• Indigenous Services Canada grants and contributions: $9.5 billion
• Infrastructure Canada grants and contributions: $5.2 billion^{Footnote 6}

Role 2: management board

Treasury Board policies and decisions have a significant impact on how the government is managed. The majority of proposals reviewed by the Treasury Board fall within the following categories:

What we own: assets

• The government owns a wide range of assets required to fulfill its obligations and meet the needs of Canadians
• These assets can range from search and rescue aircraft, international bridges and real property, such as police stations, historic sites and the Parliamentary Precinct

What we buy: procurement

• The government requires goods and services to sustain its operations
• Examples of goods and services can include Canada Coast Guard vessels, military equipment, computer systems and professional services, such as physicians or engineers

What we support: transfer payments

• The government transfers funds to other orders of government, third-party organizations and Canadians
• Examples include transferring funds to support municipal infrastructure, Indigenous education and newcomers to Canada

Role 2: management board and the Treasury Board policy suite

In addition to assets, procurement and transfer payments, Treasury Board policies cover other areas of government:

• results, evaluation and internal audit: measures to assess performance and support decisions, and helps ensure the public receives information on outcomes
• people management and official languages: manages the workforce and workplace, and supports equality of English and French through communications and services
• communications: sets rules for how government communicates with the public (for example, advertising, social media, public opinion research and web)
• financial management: outlines safeguards and ensures proper use and accountability of public funds
• service and digital: supports the management of service delivery, information and data, IT and cyber security in the digital era
• Government security: supports protection of government operations and the people, information and assets that support them

Through its policy suite (31 policies), the Treasury Board has a number of levers to promote management excellence and strong stewardship.

Role 3: employer

The Treasury Board, as the employer, has an overarching responsibility for the human resources management and financial compensation of the core public administration, which comprises over 287,000 federal public service employees.

As Employer, the Treasury Board is responsible for:

• overseeing negotiation and authorization for approval of 29 collective agreements, with 17 different bargaining agents
• determining terms and conditions of employment, including pensions and benefits
• setting compensation and terms and conditions of employment for unrepresented employees such as executives
• setting policy direction on people management and official languages issues, such as employment equity and learning

Role 4: regulatory oversight

The Treasury Board (Part B) is responsible for considering Governor in Council matters: regulations and non-appointment orders in council

Regulations

Approximately 100 to 200 per year:

• a form of law (subordinate to the broader enabling legislation)
• includes the authority to repeal regulations
• examples of regulations: food and drug safety, environmental protection and transportation safety

Orders in council

Approximately 200 to 300 per year:

• a legal decision
• examples of orders in council: authority to enter into an international agreement and bringing legislation into force

Conclusion

The Treasury Board exercises four roles within two distinct functions:

Part A

1. Expenditure manager
2. Management board
3. Employer

Part B

4. Regulatory oversight (including Governor in Council matters)

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat officials support the process by presenting cases to the Board, and providing integrated advice and administrative support.

Annex A: how the Treasury Board works

Due diligence

Submissions reviewed for:

• clarity, completeness and quality
• business case and value for money
• compliance with existing legal and policy requirements
• program operations and viability
• risk and mitigation
• design and implementation
• international alignment
• regulatory quality and adherence to the Cabinet Directive on Regulation

Secretariat provides advice

Treasury Board Ministers receive a [redacted] in advance of the meeting that contains:

• sponsoring Ministers’ signed submissions (to be determined)
• Secretariat’s advice
• regulatory proposals and Order in Council submissions

Cases are presented at the Treasury Board

Process:

• not all cases are formally presented or discussed
• Secretariat officials present the cases flagged for discussion
• members can ask for any case to be presented
• Secretariat officials answer questions on any item

Treasury Board Ministers challenge and decide

For Part A, members either:

• approve as proposed
• approve with conditions
• defer the decision
• do not approve

For Part B, members:

• consider draft regulations for public comment (beginning of process)
• consider regulations for final approval (end of process)
• Part B decisions are only to approve or not approve

Annex B: Examples of Treasury Board business

• New funds: Treasury Board submissions seeking access to funds for a department, following a funding decision in the Budget
• Grants and contributions: approval to provide transfers to people, other governments, and organizations for infrastructure
• Investment plans and project approvals: a new IT project
• Contract and real property approvals: purchasing a new building
• Corporate and business plans: approval of corporate plans for Crown corporations
• Human resources approvals: pension and benefits administration, creation of assistant deputy minister–level positions
• Treasury Board policies: approval, amendments, rescinding, exceptions and exemptions to any of the Treasury Board policies
• Other: write-off and remission order, adjustments or establishment of user fees

3. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat at a glance

In this section

• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
  • Central agency
  • Department
• Central agency and departmental functions
  • Central agency
  • Department
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
  • Peter Wallace, Secretary of the Treasury Board
  • Erin O’Gorman, Associate Secretary
• Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer
  • Christine Donoghue, Chief Human Resources Officer
    • Key policies
• Office of the Comptroller General
  • Roch Huppé, Comptroller General
    • Key policies
• Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
  • Marc Brouillard, Chief Information Officer (acting)
    • Key policies
• Office for Public Service Accessibility
  • Yazmine Laroche, Deputy Minister, Public Service Accessibility
• Supporting the Treasury Board directly
  • Expenditure Management Sector
  • Program sectors
  • Regulatory Affairs Sector
• Enabling functions
  • Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs
  • Human Resources
  • Departmental Legal Services
  • Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer
  • Internal Audit and Evaluation
  • Priorities and Planning
  • Functions supporting other departments
    • Centre for Greening Government
    • Canadian Digital Service
• Supply 101
• Required authorities for government spending
  • Roles and responsibilities in seeking supply
• Key steps in securing supply
  • Treasury Board approval of Treasury Board submissions / “Aide-mémoire”
  • Tabling of the Estimates document
  • Committee appearances
  • Introduction of appropriation acts
  • Royal Assent
• Reports tabled in Parliament as part of the business of supply
• Current supply cycle at a glance

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat has approximately 2,276 employees and plays a central coordinating function for the Government of Canada, promoting coherence across programs and services.

Central agency

• Sets the government-wide management agenda and provides guidance to departments on a wide range of management issues
• Performs a challenge function and advises Ministers on proposals brought forward by departments (for example, on memoranda to Cabinet, Budget items, and Treasury Board submissions)

Department

• As a department, is subject to this agenda and guidance
• Submits proposals to Cabinet for the President’s own initiatives

Central agency and departmental functions

Central agency

The central agency function supports the Treasury Board’s mandate. This role is generally carried out by the following groups:

• Office of the Comptroller General
• Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer
• Office of the Chief Information Officer
• Expenditure Management Sector
• Regulatory Affairs
• Program Sectors

Department

Enabling functions support the smooth operation of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. These functions are carried out mainly by the following groups:

• Priorities and Planning
• Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs
• Legal Services
• Human Resources
• Corporate Services
• Internal Audit and Evaluation

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Peter Wallace, Secretary of the Treasury Board

Deputy Head of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Supported by an Associate Secretary and four other deputy ministers

Erin O’Gorman, Associate Secretary

Works with the Secretary, providing leadership on the management of the Treasury Board Cabinet Committee

The Secretary and Associate Secretary lead the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, which is divided into six thematic areas:

1. Human resources
2. Comptrollership
3. Information (including digital)
4. Accessibility
5. Direct support to the Treasury Board
6. Enabling functions

Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer

Christine Donoghue, Chief Human Resources Officer

The Chief Human Resources Officer is responsible for government-wide direction and leadership on people management to support a competent, inclusive and healthy public service.

The Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer supports the Treasury Board’s mandate by:

• developing policies and providing strategic direction for people and workplace management in the public service
• leading negotiations with bargaining agents and managing total compensation to ensure fair and sustainable terms for collective agreements, pensions and benefits
• establishing terms and conditions of employment, including the management of talent and performance for the executive cadre
• monitoring the conditions of the workplace and workforce through data acquisition and analysis
• leading the heads of the human resources community to foster collaboration, innovation and coherence across the Government of Canada 

Key policies

• The Policy on People Management sets expectations for deputy heads and managers in the core public administration to create a high-performing workforce and a modern, healthy and respectful work environment
• The Policy on the Management of Executives sets the expectations specific to the management of the executive cadre in the core public administration
• Policies for Ministers’ Offices provides coherence and transparency for financial, personnel and administrative management

Office of the Comptroller General

Roch Huppé, Comptroller General

The Comptroller General is responsible for government-wide direction and leadership on comptrollership, including in the areas of financial management, internal audit, public accounts, liaison with the Auditor General and acquired services and assets.

The Office of the Comptroller General supports the Treasury Board’s mandate by:

• developing policies and providing government-wide coordination and strategic direction for comptrollership in the public service, including internal audit, project management and the management of real property and materiel
• providing strategic direction and oversight for Chief Financial Officers across the Government of Canada
• providing proactive analysis and recommendations on management and policy issues such as departmental management and spending authorities and contributing to government-wide oversight by providing assurance and advice
• providing analysis and advice on Treasury Board submissions, including on cost estimates and financial risks

Key policies

• The Policy on Financial Management, which provides key responsibilities for deputy heads, chief financial officers, and other senior managers in exercising effective financial management
• The Policy on Transfer Payments, which explains the roles and responsibilities for the delivery and management of transfer payment programs
• The Policy on the Planning and Management of Investments, which sets the direction for the planning and management of assets and acquired services to ensure that these activities provide value for money and demonstrate sound stewardship in program delivery

Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)

Marc Brouillard, Chief Information Officer (acting)

The Chief Information Officer is responsible for the planning and management of technology and the stewardship of information and data for the Government of Canada.

The OCIO supports Treasury Board’s mandate by:

• developing policies and strategic direction on digital transformation, service delivery, security, information management and information technology (IM/IT) in the public service
• providing analysis and advice on Treasury Board submissions, including on the use of digital technology and issues related to privacy
• working with departments and agencies to improve their digital service capacity, support the use of digital approaches in government operations and develop tools and resources to meet users’ needs
• leading the Government of Canada Chief Information Officers community to advance the adoption of best practices for IM and digital and service delivery

Key policies

• The Policy on Service and Digital serves as an integrated set of rules on how the Government of Canada manages service delivery, information and data, IT and cyber security
• The Policy on Government Security, which provides direction to manage government security in support of the trusted delivery of Government of Canada programs and services and the protection of information

Office for Public Service Accessibility

Yazmine Laroche, Deputy Minister, Public Service Accessibility

The Deputy Minister of Public Service Accessibility is responsible for supporting the Canadian public service in meeting the requirements of the Accessible Canada Act.

The Office for Public Service Accessibility supports the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s mandate by providing strategic advice to government departments and agencies regarding issues related to accessibility and inclusion through:

• equipping public servants with knowledge on how to better design and deliver accessible programs and services
• providing practical guidance and tools for removing barriers through initiatives such as the Centralized Enabling Workplace Fund and online via an Accessibility Hub
• providing strategic advice, informed by engagement with persons with disabilities, to government departments and agencies
• improving recruitment, retention and promotion of persons with disabilities
• enhancing the accessibility of the physical workspace
• making technology usable by all

Supporting the Treasury Board directly

Expenditure Management Sector

The Expenditure Management Sector plays a central role in the planning and coordination of federal spending.

The Expenditure Management Sector supports the Treasury Board by:

• ensuring that Parliament has oversight and approval of how money is spent following the funding decision
• providing transparency in expenditures to Parliament and Canadians

Program sectors

Program sectors are the interface with departments preparing proposals for the Treasury Board

There are four program sectors:

1. Government Operations
2. Social and Cultural
3. Economic
4. International Affairs, Security and Justice

Program sectors support the Treasury Board by:

• reviewing memoranda to Cabinet and Treasury Board submissions from federal organizations
• providing advice, guidance and support to federal organizations in their implementation and application of policies
• providing advice on and presenting proposals to Treasury Board Ministers

Regulatory Affairs Sector

The Regulatory Affairs Sector establishes policies and strategies to support the federal regulatory system by:

• supporting and coordinating efforts to foster regulatory cooperation with key domestic and international partners
• leading horizontal regulatory modernization efforts
• undertaking targeted regulatory reviews

The Regulatory Affairs Sector supports the Treasury Board in its role as a Committee of the Privy Council by providing advice on and presenting regulatory submissions and non-appointment orders in council to Treasury Board Ministers.

Enabling functions

Enabling functions support the internal operations of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. In some cases, they may also work with other departments to advance the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s mandate for good management.

Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs

Manages and provides support for Treasury Board meetings, parliamentary affairs, Cabinet business and dealings with other government departments. It is also responsible for developing internal and external communications products and for the development of policies to oversee government communications, including advertising.

Human Resources

Provides human resources advice and services to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

Departmental Legal Services

Provides legal advice to the Treasury Board and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer

Assists the Secretary of the Treasury Board in the internal administration of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, including in financial management, security, IM/IT, and facilities and material management.

Internal Audit and Evaluation

Provides independent, objective assurance and evaluation services that are designed to improve the management of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s programs and operations.

Priorities and Planning

Works with other sectors to ensure that departmental policy advice is coordinated and consistent. It also leads key activities supporting government-wide management excellence as well as corporate governance within the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

Functions supporting other departments

Centre for Greening Government

Provides leadership toward low-carbon, climate-resilient and green operations across the Government of Canada.

Canadian Digital Service

Works with departments to improve service delivery.

Supply 101

By law, Parliament must approve all government spending.

The “business of supply” is the process by which the government asks Parliament to authorize its intended expenditures through legislation, that is, the appropriation acts.

The Estimates are a series of reports that provide supporting detail to supply legislation by setting out the government’s spending plans.

The Treasury Board President, supported by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, has a number of roles and responsibilities in supply:

• chairs the Treasury Board, a Cabinet committee responsible for reviewing and approving ministerial proposals for expenditures and other authorities
• tables the Estimates (spending plans) and introduces the related supply bills in Parliament
• appears at parliamentary committees to be accountable for the contents of the Estimates and supply bills
• tables departmental planning and results (performance) reports and Public Accounts in Parliament (actual expenditures)

Required authorities for government spending

• Cabinet: policy approval (fundamental direction)
• Minister of Finance / Prime Minister: funding decision (source of funds)
• Treasury Board: expenditure and other authorities (approves new spending and the Estimates)
• Parliament: supply (appropriations)

Roles and responsibilities in seeking supply

The Treasury Board:

• has a central decision-making role in the government’s business of supply, including expenditure plans and reporting
• approves ministerial requests for adjustments to voted funds as requested in Treasury Board submissions or other proposals

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat supports the Treasury Board in its roles and responsibilities noted above, which involves:

• reviewing spending and implementation plans for program efficiency and alignment with government priorities
• supporting the supply process by preparing the Estimates and overseeing centrally managed expenditures (for example, central votes for spending authorities that can be carried forward from one fiscal year to the next)

Key steps in securing supply

Treasury Board approval of Treasury Board submissions / “Aide-mémoire”

The approval by Treasury Board allows inclusion of approved funding/authorities into the Estimates.

Tabling of the Estimates document

In the House of Commons during each of three supply periods, usually three or more weeks before introducing the appropriation legislation.

Committee appearances

In the weeks after tabling, the President appears on behalf of the government before parliamentary committees; other Ministers and officials may also be called to appear.

Introduction of appropriation acts

After Committee review, Estimates are introduced, voted in the House of Commons on the last allotted day of the supply period, and the Senate (likely) the following week.

Royal Assent

Usually formalized within a week or so after the bill has passed the House of Commons, followed by the release of supply to departments.

Reports tabled in Parliament as part of the business of supply

The President typically tables four different documents each year related to the supply process:

• Parts I and II of the Main Estimates (the Government Expenditure Plan and the departmental Main Estimates): tabled by March 1
• Supplementary Estimates: there is no set number per year, but can be tabled in May, late October or early November, and February of a year
• Departmental Plans (Part III of the Main Estimates): usually tabled in March (a few weeks following the Main Estimates), which describe departmental program and expenditure plans and expected results for the year
• Departmental Results Reports: usually tabled in late October or early November and describe the departments’ performance against their Departmental Plan

The public and parliamentarians can access the information presented across these various reports in GC InfoBase.

Current supply cycle at a glance

Treasury Board approvals

• TBS supports the tabling of Estimates documents in the House of Commons and the Senate
  • Main Estimates
  • Supplementary Estimates
• Committee appearances
  • Parliamentary committee appearances
• Introduction of appropriation act
  • Interim Supply Bill
  • Full Supply Bill for Main Estimates
  • Full Supply for Supplementary Estimates
• House of Commons and Senate Vote on Supply Bill
  • House of Commons and Senate Vote on appropriation act

Departments and agencies receive supply.

OCIO 101: introductory briefing

In this section

• OCIO: at a glance
  • Chief Information Officer Branch
• OCIO: senior executive organizational structure
• Chief Technology Officer Sector
  • Paul N. Wagner, Interim Chief Technology Officer for the Government of Canada
• Digital Policy and Services Sector
  • Sonya Read, Acting Assistant Secretary
• Digital Change Sector
  • Denis Skinner, Executive Director

OCIO: at a glance

OCIO provides leadership for the management of IT, IM, service, and digital transformation within the Government of Canada by:

• supporting the review of Treasury Board submissions and investment plans, providing initial direction on digital projects and programmes through the review of Concept Cases and Memorandum to Cabinet, and ensuing Treasury Board submissions for technology-enabled initiatives are well designed and aligned with the Government of Canada Digital Standards
• supporting the administration of the Access to Information Act, and the Privacy Act
• providing oversight of major digitally enabled projects and programs, and IT investments to encourage sound stewardship and value for money
• developing policies, plans and standards including the Policy on Service and Digital, Policy on Government Security, Digital Operations Strategic Plan, and the Government of Canada Digital Standards
• providing whole-of-government leadership for the digital community through work with CIO, cyber security, and access to information and privacy communities, as well as work with the Open Government Partnership, Digital Nations, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Chief Information Officer Branch

Marc Brouillard, Acting Chief Information Officer of Canada

Paul N. Wagner, Interim Chief Technology Officer for the Government of Canada

Sonya Read, Acting Assistant Secretary, Digital Policy and Services

Denis Skinner, Executive Director, Digital Change

OCIO: senior executive organizational structure

• Acting Chief Information Officer of Canada: Marc Brouillard
  • Interim Chief Technology Officer for the Government of Canada: Paul N. Wagner
  • Acting Assistant Secretary, Digital Policy and Services: Sonya Read
  • Executive Director, Digital Change: Denis Skinner

Chief Technology Officer Sector

Paul N. Wagner, Interim Chief Technology Officer for the Government of Canada

The Chief Technology Officer Sector is comprised of four divisions that are responsible for: 

• the strategic leadership and oversight of digital integration by ensuring the appropriate digital platforms are in place to facilitate both internal public service operations as well as service delivery to Canadians
• establishing a consistent enterprise-wide cyber security posture and enabling the secure delivery of Government of Canada programs and services to Canadians​
• the oversight of the management of digitally enabled projects and programs, IT, enterprise architecture, enterprise data management
• providing expert advice to support the Deputy Minister Committees on Core Services and Enterprise Priorities and Planning as well as establishing and deploying a team dedicated directly to four of the largest digitally enabled departmental transformation initiatives

Digital Policy and Services Sector

Sonya Read, Acting Assistant Secretary

The Digital Policy and Services Sector is comprised of five divisions that are responsible for:

• the administration and performance oversight of legislation and policies related to access to information and privacy across the federal government 
• the development, management and performance oversight of whole of government administrative policies (Service and Digital, Government Security) 
• mainstreaming Open Government in the federal government and providing enterprise digital platforms to enable Open Government and Access to Information 
• providing policy guidance, interpretation and support for functional policy communities across government
• managing OCIO governance (including deputy minister committees), coordinating OCIO input into departmental corporate planning exercises, and the provision of strategic policy support for digital transformation 

Digital Change Sector

Denis Skinner, Executive Director

The Digital Change Sector is comprised of four teams that are responsible for:

• supporting the recruitment, development and recognition of the Government of Canada’s digital leaders and talent
• building and promoting a robust ecosystem to attract, develop, retain and recognize a capable and competent IM/IT workforce that is representative of the diversity of Canada
• leveraging this investment from three years of experimentation in human resources staffing to improve automation, scalability and user experience of Digital Change Sector services related to employee mobility, talent management and recruitment
• collaborating with leading governments in Canada and around the world on digital government
• supporting the adoption of the Government of Canada’s Digital Standards
• acting as a digital incubator: adopting product management practices and facilitating innovation on enterprise digital platforms related to IM, digital collaboration, system interoperability and service delivery
• the strategic leadership and oversight of digital integration by ensuring the appropriate digital platforms are in place to facilitate both internal public service operations as well as service delivery to Canadians

The role of the Chief Information Officer

In this section

• Governance touch points
• Reviewing submissions and investment plans
• Supporting administration of legislation
• Oversight role for major information technology projects
• Developing policies, plans and standards
• Providing leadership on digital government
  • Internal activities
  • External activities
• Digital Government in the Government of Canada
  • Government operations and services
  • Economy
  • Data
  • Privacy and cyber security
• Deputy committee landscape for a digital era
  • Digitization of services
    • Enterprise Priorities and Planning
    • Core Services
  • Governance in a digital age
  • Strategic procurement
• Annex: Digital Standards
  • The Government of Canada’s Digital Standards

The Chief Information Officer provides overall leadership for the management of IT, IM, service and digital transformation within the Government of Canada.

The Chief Information Officer does this by:

• supporting the review of Treasury Board submissions and investment plans, which can include a range of digital and IT-enabled initiatives
• supporting administration of legislation related to access to information and privacy
• providing oversight of major IT projects
• developing policies, plans and standards
• providing whole-of-government leadership for the digital community

Governance touch points

Ongoing OCIO policy guidance, strategic advice and support:

• Business problem/ideation
  • Concept case: mandatory procedure
    • Key questions:
      • Has the problem or opportunity been well defined?
      • Is there a clear vision of the desired business outcomes and future state?
      • Is there opportunity for alignment to the Digital Standards?
• Design
  • GC EARB: Directive
    • Key questions:
      • Have the Digital Standards and Architecture Standards been applied?
• Treasury Board authorities
  • Treasury Board submission: authorities
• Key questions:
  • Does the initiative and/or project comply to Treasury Board policies?
  • Is it aligned with Government of Canada strategies?
  • Has the project been to GC EARB?
• Execution
  • Project oversight: ongoing project monitoring
    • Key questions:
      • Is the project positioned for success?
      • Are course corrections needed?

Apply lessons learned.

Reviewing submissions and investment plans

The OCIO:

• reviews and provides initial direction for departmental digital projects
• reviews Treasury Board submissions for technology-enabled initiatives to ensure that they are well designed and aligned with digital standards
• collects information related to departmental technology plans and expenditures

Supporting administration of legislation

The OCIO supports the administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act:

• the Access to Information Act provides a right of access to government information and requires digital publication of this information. Bill C‑58 established a legislated requirement to launch a full review of the act in 2020
• the Privacy Act protects the personal information held by government and provides persons in Canada with a right to access that information. Led by the Department of Justice Canada, a comprehensive review of the act is being conducted

Oversight role for major information technology projects

The OCIO provides ongoing oversight for 18 major IT-enabled projects to encourage sound stewardship and value for money.

Some of the more significant projects include:

• the Passport Modernization Initiative at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
• the Export Import Control System II at Global Affairs Canada
• the Workplace Communications Services Project at Shared Services Canada
• the Canada Border Services Agency Assessment and Revenue Management System
• the Benefits Delivery Modernization Program at Employment and Social Development Canada

Developing policies, plans and standards

The OCIO develops policies, plans and standards related to: access to information, security, IM/IT, privacy and service for the Government of Canada.

Key policies:

• the Treasury Board Policy on Service and Digital,^{Footnote 7} which sets out how government departments manage service delivery, data, IT and elements of cyber security
• the Treasury Board Policy on Government Security, which sets out how government departments manage government security

Strategic government-wide plans and standards:

• the Digital Operations Strategic Plan, which establishes the integrated direction for the government on digital transformation, service delivery, security, IM and IT
• the Government of Canada Digital Standards, which form the foundation of the Government of Canada’s shift to becoming more user-focused, open and agile. They are a set of consistent guiding principles to show what good digital service delivery looks like, across government.

Providing leadership on digital government

The OCIO leads whole of government initiatives and projects related to IT, IM, service and digital transformation:

Internal activities

• Leading the Information Management and Information Technology Community, which supports chief information officers and is comprised of 19,000+ public servants responsible for Information Technology; the Access to Information and Privacy Community; and the Security Community.
• Access to Information and Privacy Request Service, which enables Canadians to submit Access to Information requests online, search for records among all 265 federal institutions and look through past requests
• Open Government Portal, which lets users search and browse a collection of more than 80,000 open data and information assets
• Digital Identity, which is working to enable Canadians to seamlessly and securely access government services using a trusted digital identity
• Cloud migration, which includes a cloud adoption strategy and supporting policy framework to facilitate cloud as the preferred option for delivering government IT service

External activities

• International activities: Canada is often called upon to play a leadership role on digital issues, such as with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Open Government Partnership and the Digital Nations

Digital Government in the Government of Canada

In addition to the Treasury Board, other key federal partners support digital government:

Government operations and services

• Public Services and Procurement Canada: Government application provider (for example, human resources software)
• Shared Services Canada: Shared digital infrastructure (for example, providing servers)
• Service departments (for example, Employment and Social Development Canada): Service delivery (for example, Employment Insurance)

Economy

• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada: Digital economy in Canada

Data

• Statistics Canada: collection, compilation, analysis and publication of statistical information
• Library and Archives Canada: Data preservation

Privacy and cyber security

• Public Safety Canada: Coordination and strategic policy-making on national cyber security matters Communications Security Establishment and Canadian Centre for Cyber Security: Cyber Security Centre of Expertise
• Department of Justice Canada: Privacy Act Reform

Note: This list is illustrative, not exhaustive.

Deputy committee landscape for a digital era

Digitization of services

• Focuses on strategy and priority-setting for digitization of services
• Chaired by Ian Shugart and Peter Wallace

Enterprise Priorities and Planning

• Focuses on an integrated approach to IT strategies across the enterprise
• Chaired by Peter Wallace and Lori MacDonald

Core Services

• Focuses on the transformation of core services
• Chaired by Peter Wallace and Paul Glover

Governance in a digital age

• Issues and priorities around democratic institutions and broader trends in democracy, including impact of digital advances on democracy, institutions and society. Considerations around privacy and use of data.
• Chaired by Simon Kennedy and Hélène Laurendeau

Strategic procurement

• Develop rigorous, efficient advice on large, complex procurement programs
• Chaired by Bill Matthews and Timothy Sargent

Deputy Minister Committee on Core Services and Core Services Enablement Team

Annex: Digital Standards

The Digital Standards form the foundation of the Government of Canada’s shift to becoming more user-focused, open and agile.

They are a set of guiding principles to show what good digital service delivery looks like, across government.

Regular review of services against the Digital Standards supports the aim of delivering digital services in a way that best serves Canadians.

The Government of Canada’s Digital Standards

• Design with users
• Iterate and improve frequently
• Work in the open by default
• Use open standards and solutions
• Address security and privacy risks
• Build in accessibility from the start
• Empower staff to deliver better services
• Be good data stewards
• Design ethical services
• Collaborate widely

OCIO divisional mandates

In this section

• Office of the Chief Technology Officer
  • Cyber Security
    • People
    • Financial summary
    • Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)
      • Digital identity
      • Strategy and design
      • Engagement and oversight
• Enterprise Strategic Planning
  • People
  • Financial summary
  • Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)
• Core Services Enabling Team
  • People
  • Financial summary
  • Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)
• Digital Investment Oversight Division
  • People
  • Financial summary
  • Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)
• Information and Privacy Policy Directorate
  • People
  • Financial summary
  • Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)
• Digital Policy Directorate
  • People
  • Financial summary
  • Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)
• Open Government
  • People
  • Financial summary
  • Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)
• Security Policy Division
  • People
  • Financial summary
  • Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)
• Strategic Policy and Planning Division
  • People
  • Financial summary
  • Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)
• Digital Change Sector
  • People
  • Financial summary
  • Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)
    • Digital Government Partnerships Team
    • Digital Standards and Culture Team
    • Digital Community Management Office (CMO)
    • Talent Cloud and Digital Enablement (collaboration platforms)
    • Gcxchange
    • Strategy and Engagement Team

Office of the Chief Technology Officer

Cyber Security

People

• Po Tea-Duncan, Acting Executive Director, Cyber Security
• Michael Goit, Director, Digital Identity
• Michael Brownlie, Senior Architect, Digital Identity
• Rahim Charania, Acting Director, Strategy and Design
• Mark Couture, Senior Architect, Strategy and Design
• Susan Gallagher, Acting Manager, Engagement and Oversight

Financial summary

• $4,666,790

Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)

The Cyber Security Division provides leadership, direction and oversight for cyber security and digital identity for the Government of Canada enterprise at large, providing a whole-of-government approach to enable the trusted delivery of secure and reliable services to Canadians. Specifically, this division has core mandate to support the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer in the implementation of the following requirements under the Policy on Service and Digital:

4.4.1.8 Defining cyber security requirements to ensure that Government of Canada and departmental information and data, applications, systems, and networks are secure, reliable and trusted.

4.4.1.9 Executing decisions on the management of cyber security risks on behalf of the Government of Canada and directing a deputy head to implement a specific response to cyber security events, including assessing whether there has been a privacy breach, implementing security controls, and ensuring that systems that put the Government of Canada at risk are disconnected or removed, when warranted.

4.4.1.10 Providing direction and defining enterprise-wide requirements for the management of identities, credentials, and access for the Government of Canada and departments.

Digital identity

• Digital Identity Ecosystem: Lead the public sector development of a modern, open, robust, secure, and trusted digital identity ecosystem
• Digital Identity Platform Services: Build digital platforms for secure, client-centric, data-driven, end-to-end, integrated service delivery including implementing trusted digital identity platform services

Strategy and design

• Security Architecture: Provide security strategies, designs, and requirements to enable delivery of secure Government of Canada systems ​
• Security Assurance: Manage IT security risks throughout the life cycle of GC systems and services ​
• Cyber Security Event Management: Monitoring and coordination of cyber events in support of GC Cyber Security Event Management Plan 

Engagement and oversight

• Measurement and Oversight: Improve the Government of Canada security posture through performance measurement and TBS oversight ​
• Community Support: Support for and Engagement with Functional Community and Governance Committees
• Policy Development: Lead for strategic policy development for cyber security and digital identity, in support of the Policy on Service and Digital
• Cyber security and Digital ID program governance: Support for and Engagement with Governance Committees​ ​

Enterprise Strategic Planning

People

• Jody Lobb, Executive Director
• Dan Cooper, Senior Director, Enterprise Technology and Data
• Dominique Jean-Noel, Acting Senior Director, Enterprise Portfolio Management and Application Modernization
• Floyd Pushelburg, Director, Enterprise Architecture
• Scott Levac, Director, Core Technology
• Benoit Deshaies, Acting Director, Data and AI (Artificial Intelligence) Policy
• Poma Ilambo, Acting Director, Application Portfolio Management and Modernization
• Jennifer Player, Director, Enterprise planning and portfolio management

Financial summary

• $4,234,987 (salary and goods and services, not including memoranda of understanding

Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)

The Enterprise Strategic Planning division provides strategic advice, leadership and policy direction to departments for IT, enterprise architecture, data governance, management, and standardization, and responsible AI for the Government of Canada, and manages forward planning, prioritization, and reporting for Government of Canada–wide integrated management of service, information, data, IT, and cyber security.

The Enterprise Strategic Planning division has core mandate to support the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer in the implementation of the Policy on Service and Digital, including:

4.1.2.1.2 Prioritizing Government of Canada demand for IT shared services and assets

4.1.2.3 Prescribing expectations with regard to enterprise architecture.

4.1.2.5 Establishing priorities for IT investments that are enterprise-wide in nature or that require the support of Shared Services Canada.

4.3.1.1 Prescribing enterprise-wide information and data standards for quality, accessibility, and data interoperability, including common architecture taxonomies and classifications, quality requirements, and life-cycle management direction.

4.4.1.1 Prescribing the use of specific IT business processes, technologies, applications and IT resource management approaches, including direction for their life-cycle management as defined in the Policy on Management of Materiel.

The Enterprise Strategic Planning division supports digital governance as program lead for several enterprise-wide senior level committees (Deputy Minister Committee on Enterprise Priorities and Planning, ADM Service and Enterprise Priorities, Chief Information Officer Council, GC EARB, ADM Service and Enterprise Priorities Data and Information Working Group) and through regular due diligence reviews and assessments (for example, memoranda to Cabinet, Concept Cases, Treasury Board submissions, enterprise architecture assessments).

The Enterprise Strategic Planning division supports TBS’s core responsibility for administrative oversight through the GC IT Enterprise Portfolio Management program (Integrated Planning, Application Portfolio Management, and IT Expenditure).

The Enterprise Strategic Planning division manages the GC Workload Migration and Cloud Enablement investment fund to support departments in their application modernization efforts.

The Enterprise Strategic Planning division engages with and consults departments through the management of multiple networks and forums for practitioners and departmental leaders (for example, Enterprise Architecture, Artificial Intelligence and Enterprise Data Communities of Practice, Departmental Planners Network).

Core Services Enabling Team

People

• Vern von Finckenstein, Executive Director
• Laurel Suess-Kinastowski, Director
• Dana Curley, Special Advisor (Assurance)

Financial summary

• $2-million-per-year Memorandum of Understanding with Shared Services Canada

Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)

In 2020–21, the Clerk of the Privy Council restructured deputy minister committees to advance the Government of Canada agenda. Specifically, the Deputy Minister Committee on Core Services (the Committee) was created to provide targeted deputy-level support to the transformation of core IT services and systems (Core Services initiatives) for three key initiatives:

• Employment and Social Development Canada Benefits Delivery Modernization programme and IT Technical Debt Remediation initiative that will replace and modernize aging legacy systems at risk of failure, which are critical to the continued delivery of $117 billion in Employment Insurance, Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan benefits to 9.5 million Canadians.
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Digital Platform Modernization that seeks to adopt a modern digital platform to replace outdated technology, which puts at risk the management of Canada’s immigration program.
• Shared Services Canada Next Generation HR and Pay that seeks to develop a modern integrated human resources and Pay solution, which is critical to the Government of Canada in managing and paying federal public servants.

The Committee enhances existing oversight, supports deputy head accountability, and benefits departments by providing enterprise leadership, perspective, and guidance, which enables departments to be more successful in their high-risk, digitally enabled transformation initiatives. Furthermore, in support of recent Budget decisions, the Committee provides recommendations on the release of funds for some Core Services initiatives based upon the achievement of outcomes.

As outlined in the Committee Terms of Reference, a dedicated, multidisciplinary team provides focused support to the Committee and departments in enabling successful implementation of Core Services initiatives. Though situated within the OCIO, this Core Services Enabling Team does not participate in typical business of the Secretariat in terms of providing Treasury Board policy advice and review of Treasury Board submissions; rather, the Core Services Enabling Team:

• provides expert knowledge, advice, and recommendations to the Committee and to lead deputies in machinery, procurement, investment, transformation and on proposed approaches and options, risk assessment and mitigation, and operational matters
• works within TBS, and with other central agencies and implicated departments, to identify solutions, alternative controls, and facilitation of exemptions and/or exceptions
• provides targeted support specific to benefits delivery modernization in the subjects of user experience, Curam and expert advisors, as identified in Budget 2021, which can be leveraged by the broader core services initiatives

External expert advice is also sought, as required to supplement Government of Canada expertise in transformation.

Digital Investment Oversight Division

People

• Gina Smith, Executive Director
• Rob Renaud, Senior Director
• Shaun Turner, Senior Director
• Marie-Josée Lambert, Director
• Justin Blanchette, Oversight Executive
• Kim Shelp, Oversight Executive
• Yannick Newton, Oversight Executive
• Jeff Ogborne, Director

Financial summary

• $2,972,014

Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)

The Digital Investment Oversight Division oversees and guides digitally enabled business project/programme investments across the Government of Canada on behalf of the Treasury Board from concept to benefits realization. The Ongoing Project/Programme Oversight program supports the Policy on the Planning and Management of Investments and Directive on Planning and Management of Investment, requiring the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer to establish a digital investment oversight program, and commission independent reviews of projects under oversight. The program oversees 15 to 20 of the highest risk digitally enabled projects/programmes in the Government of Canada using a defined, adaptable, transparent approach with a strong emphasis on enabling departments and developing project/programme management and governance capacity. It fulfills TBS’s core mandate to provide oversight on complex horizontal issues and reporting to Parliament and the Minister of Digital Government’s mandate to work with departments to develop solutions that will benefit Canadians and enhance the capacity to use modern tools and methodologies across government, transition to a more digital government, and implement lessons learned from previous IT project challenges and failures.

The Business Intelligence and Investment Advice function provides:

• a line of sight on forthcoming investments to inform and support decisions and advice with regard to enterprise-level capacity planning, the alignment of digital investments, and the achievement of government priorities for which digital components play a significant role
• leads the OCIO review of memoranda to Cabinet (MC), which coordinates the gathering of perspectives from policy centres and areas of expertise, and prepares advice for the Minister of Digital Government
• leads the OCIO review of Concept Cases, in support of the Mandatory Procedure on Concept Cases, and makes recommendations for Government of Canada Chief Information Officer endorsement to be sent to departments
• provides the Minister of Digital Government visibility on forthcoming digital investments.

The policy and enablement function:

• guides and enables departments to adopt effective governance and management practices for digitally enabled projects and programmes
• builds Government of Canada–wide capacity and serve as subject matter experts for delivering digitally enabled projects and programmes and adopting modern delivery methods through the development of policy instruments, guidance materials, templates and tools
• manages the TBS Independent Review Program

The Treasury Board Submission Reviews and ministerial briefings function:

• leads ministerial briefings for the Minister of Digital Government’s appearance at Treasury Board and Cabinet meetings
• ensures comprehensive and strategic OCIO review of Treasury Board submissions with digital components to position and prepare the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer for weekly Strategy, Minister / Deputy Minister and Treasury Board meetings
• ensures a comprehensive and strategic OCIO review of Treasury Board submissions with digital components to position and prepare the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer for weekly Strategy, Minister / Deputy Minister and Treasury Board meetings

The Performance Analytics and Reporting function:

• collects and analyzes portfolio intelligence to identify interdependencies, common project/programme challenges, horizontal opportunities, trends, systemic project/programme issues, and so on to further inform lessons learned for continuous improvement in policy development, enablement, and oversight activities
• provides timely information to key decision makers and increase transparency of project/programme and portfolio performance to enable informed decision-making

Information and Privacy Policy Division

People

• Jennifer Schofield, Acting Executive Director
• Jonathan MacDonald, Acting Director, Privacy Policy
• Marc-André Daigle, Director, Access to Information Policy
• Colum Grove-White, Acting Director, Access to Information Review
• Barbara Dundas, Director, Outreach and Reporting

Financial summary

The Information and Privacy Policy Division’s budget for fiscal year 2021–22 is $6,010,258, including Budget 2021 funding of $2,489,000 and program integrity funding of $1,215,000.

Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)

The Information and Privacy Policy Division consists of 44 full-time equivalents (FTEs), and is responsible for supporting the President’s role as designated Minister for the administration of the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act and their regulations, proactive publication, as well as the protection of privacy across approximately 265 institutions. The division’s responsibilities include:

• undertaking legislative renewal of the Access to Information Act on an ongoing, legislatively mandated five-year cycle
• supporting the President of Treasury Board in the renewal and administration of federal public sector privacy legislation (the Privacy Act)
• developing and issuing Access to Information Regulations and Privacy Regulations, policies, directives, guidance and advice to institutions to support the administration of the request-based regime, the proactive publication requirements of the Access to Information Act and the requirements relating to the protection of personal information included in the Privacy Act
• coordinating government action in response to multi-institutional privacy breaches
• reviewing, approving and registering Privacy Impact Assessments and Personal Information Banks and developing and maintaining Standard Personal Information Banks
• providing advice on Treasury Board submissions, memoranda to Cabinet and Cabinet notes to ensure personal information is protected in the development of programs and activities
• publishing an annual report of Federal Court decisions related to the management and protection of personal information in the public sector
• engaging Indigenous stakeholders on access to information and privacy issues and coordinating actions across government to implement solutions to their concerns
• acting as primary liaison between the Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners and the Government of Canada
• establishing statistical reporting requirements and collecting data from 265 institutions regarding their performance of obligations under the access to information and privacy legislation; analyzing data monitor trends
• preparing and publishing an annual Statistical Report on the administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Digital Policy Directorate

People

• Robert Trottier, Acting Executive Director, Digital Policy
• Meline Nearing-Hunter, Director, Information Management Policy and Horizontal Engagement
• Stéphanie Phaneuf, Director of Research and Policy
• Ambereen Jamal-Rahim, Acting Director of Service Management and Accessibility

Financial summary

The Digital Policy Division’s budget for fiscal year 2021–22 is $2,571,481, including program integrity funding ($96,563).

Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)

The Digital Policy Directorate’s division consists of 24 FTEs and three students; the mandate flows from several pieces of legislation:

• the Financial Administration Act to set administrative policy
• Canadian Human Rights Act and Accessible Canada Act to realize a Canada without barriers
• Access to Information Act and Library and Archives Canada Act requiring recordkeeping and IM obligations

The Digital Policy Directorate also supports the Minister of Digital Government’s mandate to “lead work across government to transition to a more digital government to improve citizen service.” This includes analyzing, providing guidance and reporting functions in key areas of the Government of Canada’s digital transformation. As such, the Digital Policy Directorate:

• supports the Treasury Board Management Board function to develop policies, set strategic direction and oversee performance as it relates to service, IM, data, IT, and cybersecurity
• cultivates subject matter expertise in support of core obligations (Service, IM, Accessibility, and the Policy on Service and Digital)
• supports decisions regarding issuance of new, amendments, rescissions, and exceptions to the Policy on Service and Digital suite
• oversees policy implementation (develops annual Management Accountability Framework methodology and assesses departmental submissions)
• provides policy advice and guidance for departments and leads Government of Canada–wide initiatives to improve service management practices and performance
• engages on an ongoing basis with key policy areas, communities of matter expertise, clients and stakeholders to achieve a more integrated enterprise approach related to service and digital
• deliver policy, engagement, consultations and communications outcomes and activities in support of IM policy and best practices, the TBS Directive on Service and Digital and Guideline on Service and Digital, the GC Digital Operations Strategic Plan and the GC Digital Strategy
• promotes and enables service improvement and digital transformation across the Government of Canada through the Policy on Service and Digital and its related policy instruments
• developing accessibility standards, assessment tools and performance frameworks for information and communications technologies, ensuring accessibility is applied to enterprise governance, planning, service design, tools (such as information and communications technologies) and performance monitoring

Open Government

People

• Mélanie Robert, Executive Director, Open Government
• Barry Kong, Director, Open Government and ATIP Online Request Portals
• Jean Cardinal, Director, Open Government

Financial summary

The division’s budget for 2021–22 is $6.6 million. This includes the A Base of $4,370,379 and funding from Budget 2021 of $2,266,960.

Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)

The Open Government Division consists of 36.2 FTEs and is funded through Budget 2021 with an additional 11 FTEs. The division is responsible for driving efforts to open government and support public trust in government through greater transparency, open data, accountability, integrity and citizen participation. It does this through the provision of policy leadership and toolsets to support the implementation and mainstreaming of open government principles and practices across government.

Core responsibilities of the division include:

• strategy and analysis​: providing open government–related advice on strategic direction and priorities​ through research and analysis, the development of plans, strategies and frameworks, and drafting of open government related policies and guidance​ ​
• program implementation and intergovernmental relations​​: coordinating implementation of open government within the Government of Canada, and with provinces, territories and international partners
• outreach and engagement​​: planning and executing outreach and engagement to understand the demands and needs of external clients and stakeholders​, including consultations for National Action Plans​​; leading Indigenous engagement on open government​​; providing strategic direction to the Government of Canada on engagement best practices​​; and acting as the Secretariat for Multi-stakeholder Forum​
• Open Government portal business​: establishing business and functional requirements that meet the needs of legislated proactive publications and open data and open information; supporting the Agile development process; and responding to client inquiries, both internal and external to government​; providing statistical reports to various stakeholders​
• Open Government portal development​: developing and maintaining the Open Government Portal and the Registry​ in an agile methodology​; design, testing, maintenance and monitoring of the portal/registry tech stack​; and chairing the pan-Canadian CKAN (Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network) technical working group with federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments​
• ATIP digital services​: Business lead for the business/functional requirements for ATIP Online and ATIP Request Processing Software Solution; providing change management support for institutions to over 265 institutions; provide ongoing service delivery such as designing and testing with users; collecting, refunding and reconciling the access-to-information fees on behalf of institutions; and providing tier one program service support to 265+ institutions and to Canadians

Security Policy Division

People

• Rita Whittle, Executive Director
• Dina Tardi, Director, Security Policy
• Amanda Stringer, Acting Director, Performance and Community Enablement

Financial summary

The division’s budget for 2021–22 is $2,134,138. This includes program integrity funding of $411,000 for 2021–22.

FTEs: 22

Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)

The Policy on Government Security, anchored in the Financial Administration Act applies to 110 organizations (including security and intelligence agencies) and sets out deputy head accountabilities for eight intersecting core security controls including, IT security, IM security (security categorization of information) business continuity planning, physical security, security event management, security awareness and training, security in contracts and other arrangements and security screening (employees and contract personnel). Mature security policy implementation is foundational to the integrity and trusted delivery of Government of Canada programs and services and enables protection of the Government of Canada’s information (including sensitive client data), individuals, and assets. Its nexus with emergency management and national security is significant, as shown with high-profile security events (for example, cyber attacks, intelligence leaks, insider threats). Assurance that Canada effectively manages all aspects of security risk underpins the Government of Canada’s reputation and trusted relationships with partners (including allies), oversight bodies, and Canadians.

The core mandate of the Security Policy Division is to:

• provide security policy direction enabling deputy heads and departmental officials to make informed decisions
• ensure that risk-based and standardized security planning, practices and controls are in place and maintained
• help to minimize the risk of potential national security threats and criminality within government organizations

The Security Policy Division’s key responsibilities include:

• security policy development, direction, monitoring and oversight
• challenge of Cabinet submissions
• assessing security management performance
• leading interdepartmental GC security governance
• leading the Security Functional Community
• fulfilling the lead security agency role for Government of Canada security screening and security awareness and training

Strategic Policy and Planning Division

People

Michael Taylor, Director, Strategic Policy and Planning

Financial summary

The Strategic Policy and Planning Division budget for 2021–22 is $1,291,907. Program integrity funding of which $292,071 will be directed at goods and services to support governance.

Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)

The mandate of the Strategic Policy and Planning Division is to support the development of strategic policy direction for digital government and provide horizontal coordination of planning and governance priorities. The Strategic Policy and Planning Division is divided into three teams, carrying out the following responsibilities:

DM/ADM governance support: The Committees Secretariat is responsible for the implementation, management and logistical support for 12 senior interdepartmental committees, including two DM committees, which coordinate digital priorities across government, including two DM-level committees. The effective operation and support of these various committees are fundamental to enabling horizontal government-wide engagement and governance in support of OCIO responsibilities. Over the last year, the OCIO Committee Secretariat has coordinated over 222 individual meetings (over 500 hours) with over 50 departments and agencies in support of addressing enterprise priorities and managing the CIO communities’ response to the COVID‑19 pandemic. Committee Secretariat also coordinates and distributes government-wide communiques on behalf of the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer, the Chief Technology Officer, and to ADM committees (this includes 24-hour support to provide emergency communications on cyber security). 

Strategic policy: Horizontal coordination of policy priorities for the CIO and Minister of Digital Government. This team works across the branch to deliver on policy priorities, including the development and coordination of presentations and documents for Cabinet consideration (including memoranda to Cabinet and Treasury Board submissions), as well as to support senior governance tables, either driven by the group or through the provision of support to other areas within OCIO. This includes the development of strategic policy direction and the provision of advice to senior management and senior horizontal governance tables in respect to governance, legislation, coordination of the finance/budget process and policy issues related to digital government transformation, the Minister’s digital vision, and service delivery, as well as other strategic policy initiatives within the responsibilities of OCIO.

Corporate planning and priorities: Management of the corporate planning functions of OCIO. This includes the development and coordination of integrated and coherent OCIO input to support departmental planning and reporting documents, including parliamentary mandated planning and reporting exercise (departmental plans, departmental reports, sector-wide logic models and performance reporting). The team also supports the development of long-term approaches to corporate performance reporting.

Digital Change Sector

People

Denis Skinner, Executive Director, Digital Change Sector

Anna Wong, Director, Digital Community Management Office [redacted]

• Acting:
  • Mark Levene, August 2021
  • Anne-Marie Kirouac, September 2021
• Lauren Hunter, Director, Collaboration Platforms
• Patrick Lagioia, Director, Strategy and Engagement

Financial summary

Group	Total funding from memoranda of understanding (included in budget)	Budget	Forecast	Employee Benefits Plan	Surplus/deficit
Digital enablement	5,534,708	5,697,142	5,260,482	-719,691	-283,031
Digital change	3,591,250	4,635,924	4,003,939	-697,499	-65,514
Total	$9,125,958	$10,333,066	$9,264,421	-$1,417,190	-$348,545

Program / core mandate summary (includes division responsibilities)

The Digital Change Sector’s mission is to realize the full potential of the government’s digital talent by mainstreaming the Digital Standards. The Sector manages a broad range of interlinked files that advance the Government of Canada’s digital agenda. These range from managing partnerships—within the government, across Canada and internationally; guiding and elaborating the Digital Standards; working with the digital government community (through both policy and technology); and exercising whole-of-government leadership to ensure digital platforms are in place to facilitate both internal public service operations as well as service delivery to Canadians. As the business owner, and Technical Authority for several enterprise IM/IT programs and services, the sector establishes the strategic direction, sets priorities, and oversees the delivery of enterprise products providing departments and agencies with the enabling functionality required to meet business and service outcomes.

The work of the Digital Change Sector focuses on Pillars 3 and 4 of Canada’s Digital Government Strategy: Taking a coordinated approach to digital operations and transforming how we work. As elaborated in the Digital Operations Strategic Plan, Pillar 3 focuses on enterprise-wide coordination and action. The Sector is leading on several aspects of deploying modern and accessible workplace tools and devices, an integral part of this pillar. The Digital Community Management Office, the partnerships team and the Digital Standards teams are all core components of the transformation the strategy commits to fulfilling. Through strengthening the Digital Standards, collaborating with leading international and Canadian provincial and territorial governments, and influencing the recruitment, retention and career progress of the digital community across the government, the Sector is at the cutting edge of reshaping the digital landscape of the federal government.

Digital Government Partnerships Team

Digital Change Sector manages Canada’s relationships with multiple international and pan-Canadian partners including the Digital Nations, United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the Joint Councils, and the Chief Information Officer Strategy Council. These forums are particularly for sharing best practices and organizing collective action, which are increasingly critical to national governments’ efforts to maintain pace with digital change, and to balance the power of the global digital platform companies. The team also manages cross-cutting work on emerging technology issues. First, it is leading government efforts on greening government IT and supporting a sustainable economic recovery, a key ministerial priority and a government priority in the most recent Speech from the Throne, or to establish any additional international and domestic partnerships with regularly interested parties. It is also working closely with the Community Management Office on issues related to gender, inclusivity and technology. This includes the Government of Canada’s efforts to address under-representation of diverse communities in the Government of Canada technology community. OCIO also leads a development program called the Dr. Roberta Bondar Career Development Program for Women in Science and Technology and supports the Government of Canada chief information officers in meeting their talent management performance objectives to address these gender and diversity structural deficiencies in their workforce. The team also provides ongoing leadership of the annual Digital Government Leaders Summit, which is an annual gathering of government CIOs and the annual Digital Government Awards. The team also supports—often in collaboration with Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs (SCMA)—event support and speaking notes for the CIO and for the Minister of Digital Government.

Digital Standards and Culture Team

The expansion and adoption of the Digital Standards across the Government of Canada is a critical component of the Sector’s work, as digital solutions and ways of working have proven critical precursors to resilience and response, particularly in the current pandemic context. This team is the Digital Standards lead for the Government of Canada, charged with addressing this adoption gap through awareness-raising, upskilling, toolkit co-development, and Cabinet document and concept case review. Further, this team leads efforts to map systemic barriers to digital delivery and support government in anticipating and responding to emerging changes in its operating environment, supporting the Government of Canada in maintaining its position as a leading public service.

Key service departments have already staffed well-resourced teams to work on the Digital Standards, some of which have already developed competing digital-related standards, tools and guidance. OCIO is working with these departments and with other to provide government-wide guidance and expectations for the Digital Standards. The team also assesses Cabinet documents and concept cases for Digital Standards alignment and advise on initiative redesign and/or funding reallocations, helping to coordinate Government of Canada–wide service design, investments, and digital adoption.

The team is also doing some innovative work on re-imaging priority-setting and funding in a digital world called Digitopia, which asks the question: “What if we could redesign government?” A white paper and presentation are available.

Digital Community Management Office (CMO)

The CMO directly supports the CIO of Canada as head of government’s largest functional community of public servants, working across the Government of Canada to attract, develop, retain, and recognize its digital talent. The CMO delivers significant cost and process efficiencies, including opportunities for efficiencies in members’ organizations. This happens at both the working and executive levels. For instance, CMO manages continually refreshed central pools of pre-qualified candidates for common and emerging needs, and is building strengthened capacity to deliver high-quality ecosystem data and business intelligence to help CIOs address capacity gaps and facilitate talent mobility in response to emerging crises, budgetary pressures, or changes in Government of Canada priorities. This includes central capacity to identify, retain and upskill digital talent, support talent management, set government-wide corporate priorities for CIO performance management agreement, and coordinate employee upskilling and tailored support for digital leaders. The CMO also maintains a continually refreshed standard suite of human resources and organizational products, and liaises with OCHRO on the community’s behalf.

The CMO is funded by a series of memoranda of understanding with almost all Government of Canada departments and agencies totalling $3,485,350. These memoranda of understanding have just been refreshed for a three-year period (2021–24): the amount of each memorandum of understanding is tied to the number of CS (Computer Systems) classification employees in each department. While many organizations have had to redirect funding in past months to address pandemic-related priorities, the track record of the CMO has resulted in having almost every department on board. The costs to maintain the CMO were also previously under-estimated, and the new series of memoranda of understanding addresses this issue.

Talent Cloud and Digital Enablement (collaboration platforms)

Talent Cloud was an experimental project that explored digital age concepts for modernizing the government’s approach to talent and recruitment (talent.canada.ca). It was a partner-funded initiative, built in-house by a multidisciplinary team, and was hosted out of the Digital Change Sector in the OCIO. Talent Cloud, as a project, has officially concluded. The result of these development efforts over the last three years has led to numerous insights on ways to improve recruitment, and a fully operational staffing platform that has delivered a hiring timeline dramatically faster than the Government of Canada average, all of which has been outlined in a comprehensive 230-page report.

In 2021–22, the project team is shifting to collaborate with the Digital CMO to develop a talent platform for the digital community. The new platform will deliver an interoperable talent repository, with a focus on manager-searchable talent pools. The project team will also be working with partners across the Government of Canada to advance work on an Indigenous Talent Portal. The team remains committed to advancing digital talent solutions that advance equity and serve Canadians.

Gcxchange

Gcxchange is the Government of Canada’s new intranet, a modern platform that supports the future of work by bringing departmental and Government of Canada–wide information, announcements, collaboration and productivity tools to one central location. Employees can share, communicate and collaborate with colleagues across government, and in the future, with partners beyond the Government of Canada. It is the new generation of the legacy GCTools—GCconnex, GCcollab, GCpedia, GCwiki, and GCpedia, GCmessage, and GCintranet—rolling key functionalities of the tools onto one platform. Gcxchange is maximizing the Government of Canada’s current investment of Microsoft 365 by leveraging Microsoft Teams and SharePoint.

OCIO is the business owner of Gcxchange and has developed various partnerships with other TBS units (Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs and the Information Management and Technology Division) to deliver and maintain the platform. Although OCIO has also secured Chief Information Officer Council funding for three years (2021–22 to 2023–24) totalling $11 million (approximately $3.6 million per year), a more permanent funding model needs to be explored to support the product long-term. The platform has launched and is currently following a phased approach to onboard 48 Government of Canada departments.

Strategy and Engagement Team

Strategy and engagement enable digital government by ensuring the appropriate digital platforms are in place to facilitate both internal public service operations as well as service delivery to Canadians. This is accomplished through exercising leadership as business owner and technical authority over enterprise platforms, managing platform governance, applying product management practices, and building the tools, standards and guidance to facilitate system interoperability across the Government of Canada. Key platforms include:

• ePayroll: the electronic transmittal of payroll and employment information from employers to the Government of Canada in real-time
• OneGC Platform: a single online window to Government of Canada digital services
• SAP: enterprise financial and material management software solution (HR to Pay Next Gen, Financial Management Transformation, and so on)
• Canadian Digital Exchange Platform: a multi-solution platform that enables secure data exchange within and external to the Government of Canada
• GCdocs: the GC’s standard electronic documents and records management solution, based on Open Text Content Server
• GCcase: the GC’s standard case management solution, based on Microsoft Dynamics

July 2021

Digital government

In this section

• What is digital?
  • The fourth industrial revolution has arrived
• The digital government vision
  • Government operations and services
  • Economy
  • Data
  • Privacy and Cyber Security
  • The Government of Canada digital landscape
    • Policy centre
      • Office of the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer
  • Enterprise service providers
    • Shared Services Canada
    • Public Services and Procurement Canada
  • Cyber security
    • Communications Security Establishment
  • Service delivery
    • Canadian Digital Service
    • Departments and agencies
  • Service delivery across the Government of Canada
  • The Government of Canada’s current information technology spend profile
• Ongoing international and national collaboration
• Considerations for advancing the digital agenda

What is digital?

The fourth industrial revolution has arrived

The first industrial revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production.

The second used electric power to create mass production.

The third used electronics and IT to automate production.

Today, a fourth industrial revolution.

The digital revolution is building on the third, fusing technologies and blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

Exponential advances in digital technologies like artificial intelligence and the proliferation of data are radically transforming society and citizens’ expectations.

Computers and smartphones are now ubiquitous, enabling real-time connectivity and driving expectations for information and services to be available anytime, anywhere, from any device.

Figure 2 - Text version

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Meanwhile, the rate at which data are generated is rising exponentially.

Approximately 90% of the digital data ever created in the world was generated in the past two years alone, of which only 1% has been analyzed.

Around 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of data are created every day.

Figure 3 - Text version

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Digital, however, is ultimately not about technology or data.

Digital is “applying the culture, processes, business models and technologies of the internet era to respond to people’s raised expectations.”

The digital government vision

This focus is reflected in the government’s vision for its digital future—

The Government of Canada is an open and service-oriented organization that operates and delivers programs and services to people and businesses in simple, modern and effective ways that are optimized for digital and available anytime, anywhere and from any device.

Digitally, the Government of Canada must operate as one to benefit all Canadians.

—and in its 10 Digital Standards that form the foundation of the government’s shift to becoming more user-focused, open and agile:

• design with users
• iterate and improve frequently
• work in the open by default
• use open standards and solutions
• address security and privacy risks
• build in accessibility from the start
• empower staff to deliver better services
• be good data stewards
• design ethical services
• collaborate widely

In addition to the Treasury Board, other key federal partners support digital government:

Government operations and services

• Public Services and Procurement Canada: Government application provider (for example, human resources software)
• Shared Services Canada: Shared digital infrastructure (for example, providing servers)
• Service departments (for example, Employment and Social Development Canada): Service delivery (for example, Employment Insurance)

Economy

• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada: Digital economy in Canada

Data

• Statistics Canada: collection, compilation, analysis and publication of statistical information
• Library and Archives Canada: Data preservation

Privacy and Cyber Security

• Public Safety Canada: Coordination and strategic policy-making on national cyber security matters Communications Security Establishment and Canadian Centre for Cyber Security: Cyber Security Centre of Expertise
• Department of Justice Canada: Privacy Act Reform

Note: This list is illustrative, not exhaustive.

The Government of Canada digital landscape

Policy centre

Office of the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer

• Policy
• Standards
• Architecture
• Planning
• Oversight
• Community
• Performance

Enterprise service providers

Shared Services Canada

Enterprise service provider of:

• networks
• data centres
• workplace technology
• email

Supports the Government of Canada in procuring IT infrastructure goods and services

Works with Public Safety, Communications Security Establishment, and Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to improve cyber and IT security government-wide

Public Services and Procurement Canada

Enterprise service provider of:

• application management
• procurement/financial systems
• real property
• HR management systems

Cyber security

Communications Security Establishment

• Foreign signals intelligence collection
• IT security advice and technical assistance

Service delivery

Canadian Digital Service

Human-centred service design:

• hands-on delivery:
  • partnerships with departments
  • platform services
• building capacity (tools, talent, training)
• delivery-informed advice

Departments and agencies

• Service delivery
• Application management
• Business owners
• Implement standards
• User support

Service delivery across the Government of Canada

Service delivery to Canadians is the responsibility of federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments, sometimes jointly or in coordination

Federal service delivery focuses primarily on:

• transfers (for example, entitlements, benefits, grants and contributions)
• advisory services (for example, 1‑800‑O‑Canada, weather services, research and case management)
• educational, recreational and cultural encounters (for example, heritage museums, Parks Canada centres, Canada School of Public Service training and Red Seal certifications)
• regulatory compliance and enforcement (for example, identity documents such as passports and social insurance number, certificates, licences and permits)
• rule-making (for example, directives and standards, laws and regulations as with the Canada Gazette, and policies and strategies)

While almost every federal organization is mandated with service delivery responsibilities, most public-facing services are delivered by eight core service organizations:

1. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
2. Canada Border Services Agency
3. Employment and Social Development Canada
4. Innovation Science and Economic Development
5. Veterans Affairs Canada
6. Agriculture and Agri-food Canada
7. Canada Revenue Agency
8. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency

These organizations collectively processed over 314 million transitions in 2017–18, and delivered billions in public benefits.

Figure 4 - Text version

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The Government of Canada’s current information technology spend profile

The government currently spends approximately 20% on front-office systems and 80% on back-office systems and IT infrastructure:^{Footnote 8}

• Front office
  • Program delivery
    • Systems of record
      • Departmental systems; $1,086 million
        • Canada Revenue Agency
        • Passport Canada
        • Employment and Social Development Canada
    • User experience
      • Citizen-facing: $73 million
        • Canada.ca
        • Open.canada.ca
        • OneGC
• Back office
  • Internal services
    • Enterprise back office: $1,159 million
      • SAP
      • Oracle
      • GCdocs
      • SharePoint
    • Employee-facing: $1,098 million
      • GCtools
      • Mobile
      • Office productivity
      • GCintranet
      • Desktop
  • Shared Services Canada
    • Infrastructure: $852 million ($1,037 million Government of Canada total)
    • Security: $234 million ($427 million Government of Canada total)
    • Network and telecom: $830 million ($1,159 million Government of Canada total)

Ongoing international and national collaboration

Delivering on the digital agenda requires continued and increased collaboration and integration with other jurisdictions and stakeholders, both at home and abroad.

Canada plays a global leadership role on digital issues, and can benefit from ongoing collaboration and lessons learned from its digital peers:

• Digital Nations: Canada is Chair of this network of 10 advanced nations, and funds and hosts the Secretariat. In fall 2020, Canada will host the annual Summit of Ministers and delegates from member nations. Ongoing work includes responsible use of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, data and digital identity.
• World Economic Forum: Focus of Davos (January 2020) will include data, digital services, digital government and digital economy. Canada can showcase its digital leadership and lead discussions at this event.
• Open Government Partnership: Canada is former government co-chair of the Steering Committee, and hosted the Global Summit in 2019. The next Steering Committee meeting at ministerial level is scheduled for fall 2020. Canada continues to promote the Partnership’s model with provinces, territories and municipalities.
• United Nations: The theme of the United Nations General Assembly (fall 2020) and 75th anniversary is digital collaboration. Canada could showcase its digital leadership and lead discussions at this event.
• Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development Annual Ministerial Council Meeting: The spring 2020 meeting will likely feature discussions on digital government and digital economy.

Delivering on the digital agenda requires continued and increased collaboration and integration with other jurisdictions and stakeholders, both at home and abroad.

• There is also growing and ongoing pan-Canadian collaboration across jurisdictions on a variety of initiatives designed to support national digital transformation, including:
  • On digital identity: this includes work on a common digital identity sign-in platform so individuals and businesses in Canada can access and receive federal services online using a sign-in option of their choice, including existing solutions and trusted digital identities from other jurisdictions and sectors.
  • On the Bundled Birth Service: Service Canada has partnered with provinces to integrate the application process for a provincial birth registration and birth certificate, a Social Insurance Number, and the Canada Child Benefit. The result is parents only need to report the information once, underscoring the benefits of an integrated, “tell us once” service approach.
  • On open government and open data: the Canada Open Government Working Group includes representatives from all provincial and territorial governments. Work includes the Open Government Portal source code, harmonizing high-value datasets (for example, procurement data, data on hospitals, administrative boundaries, municipal registries, baby names) and working to harmonize standards that enable cross-jurisdictional cooperation and further federation of data “searchability.”

Considerations for advancing the digital agenda

Delivering on digital will require the Government of Canada to:

1. address the government’s aging IT infrastructure and legacy IT spending
2. modernize how government delivers services
3. solidify the government’s enterprise capacity, including deploying common platforms that support seamless service delivery

Governance Reference Guide

In this section

• OCIO-managed committees the DM sits on
  • Decision-making
  • Consultation and situational awareness
• OCIO-managed committees the DM sits on (written description)
• OCIO committee structure
  • Deputy minister (DM) level
  • Assistant deputy minister (ADM) level
    • Committees that the DM does not sit on
    • Standalone committees
    • Committees the DM does not generally attend
• OCIO-managed committees (written description)

OCIO-managed committees the DM sits on

Decision-making

• Interdepartmental Governance
  • Deputy Minister Committee on Enterprise Priorities and Planning
  • Deputy Minister Committee on Core Services
• International Governance
  • Chief Information Officer Strategy Council

Consultation and situational awareness

• Interdepartmental Governance
  • Chief Information Officer Council
  • Shared Services Canada–OCIO Joint Management
• International Governance
  • Digital Nations
  • OECD Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials (OECD E-Leaders)
  • International Council for IT in Government Administration

OCIO: July 2021

OCIO-managed committees the DM sits on (written description)

Committees (alphabetical)	Membership status	Coordination	Frequency	Mandate
Chief Information Officer Council	Chair	OCIO Committee Secretariat	Monthly	The Chief Information Officer Council is a forum for consultation and information exchange on matters relating to the management and use of information and technology in support of program and service delivery in the Government of Canada.
Chief Information Officer Strategy Council	Co-Chair	Chief Information Officer Strategy Council Secretariat	Monthly	The Chief Information Officer Strategy Council is Canada’s national forum for Chief Information Officers and Executive Technology Leaders to mobilize on common digital priorities.
Digital Nations	Canada’s Senior Official	Digital Nations Secretariat	Yearly, plus yearly Ministerial Summit	The Digital Nations is a forum of the world’s digital governments that aims to use technology to improve citizens’ services. Members include Estonia, Israel, Korea, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Uruguay, Mexico, Portugal, Denmark.
Deputy Minister Committee on Enterprise Priorities and Planning	Ex-Officio	OCIO Committee Secretariat	Monthly	Focuses on an integrated approach to IT strategies across the enterprise.
Deputy Minister Committee on Core Services	Ex-Officio	OCIO Committee Secretariat	Monthly	Focuses on the transformation of core services. Currently, there are four in scope: Employment and Social Development Canada Benefits Delivery Modernization Employment and Social Development Canada Technical Debt Remediation Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Digital Platform Modernization Shared Services Canada Next Generation: HR and Pay
ICA: International Council for IT in Government Administration	Member	ICA Secretariat	Quarterly	The International Council for IT in Government Administration is an international non-profit association that is an information-sharing forum on management and the use of information and communications technologies.
OECD E-Leaders: OECD Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials	Member	OECD Secretariat	Yearly	OECD E-Leaders meet once per year with individuals from the private sector and academic to discuss topics such as digital transformation of the public sector.

* List of all committees the DM sits on is included as an annex.

OCIO: July 2021

OCIO committee structure

Deputy minister (DM) level

• Deputy Minister Committee on Enterprise Priorities and Planning
• Deputy Minister Committee on Core Services

Assistant deputy minister (ADM) level

• Government of Canada Enterprise Architecture Review Board (GC EARB)
• Service Officials Council
• ADM Service and Enterprise Priorities Working Group for Data and Information
• ADM Service and Enterprise Priorities
• Chief Information Officer Council
• CIOC (Chief Information Officer Council) Express

Committees that the DM does not sit on

• Deputy Minister Digitization of Services (Privy Council Office)
• Deputy Minister Governance in a Digital Age (Innovation Science and Economic Development)

Standalone committees

• ADM Access to Information and Privacy
• ADM Security Committee
• Government of Canada Secret Infrastructure Strategic Management Committee
• ADM QUAD
• Joint Council

Committees the DM does not generally attend

• Deputy Minister Digitization of Services (Privy Council Office)
• Deputy Minister Governance in a Digital Age (Innovation Science and Economic Development)
• Government of Canada Enterprise Architecture Review Board (GC EARB)
• Service Officials Council
• ADM Service and Enterprise Priorities Working Group for Data and Information
• ADM Service and Enterprise Priorities
• ADM Access to Information and Privacy
• ADM Security Committee
• Government of Canada Secret Infrastructure Strategic Management Committee
• ADM QUAD
• Joint Council

OCIO-managed committees (written description)

Committees (alphabetical)	Coordination	Frequency	Mandate
Assistant Deputy Minister Access to Information and Privacy	OCIO Committee Secretariat	Bimonthly	A Government of Canada committee on policy and operational matters relating to access to information and privacy (ATIP).
ADM QUAD	Chief Technology Officer Sector, OCIO	Monthly	Provide advice and guidance on IT strategic priorities and ensure alignment with the enterprise direction established by deputy minister (DM)–level committees.
Assistant Deputy Minister Security Committee	OCIO Committee Secretariat	Bimonthly	Provides strategic leadership regarding the development, implementation and ongoing evaluation of the Policy on Government Security and operational readiness activities across the Government of Canada.
Assistant Deputy Minister Service and Enterprise Priorities	OCIO Committee Secretariat	Monthly	To improve the Government of Canada’s client service experience and government operations through the strategic management of enterprise services, information, data, IT, and cybersecurity.
Assistant Deputy Minister Service and Enterprise Priorities Working Group for Data and Information	Chief Technology Officer Sector, OCIO	Monthly	Beginning in July 2021, this working group is anticipated to run for six months to support ADM Service and Enterprise Priorities in addressing its mandate for leadership and direction in enterprise data and information.
CIOC (Chief Information Officer Council) Express: Chief Information Officer Council Express	Chief Technology Officer Sector, OCIO	Weekly	CIOC Express is an information-sharing forum that originally focused on the quickly evolving IT issues related to the pandemic facing all of us. This forum is now being used to share information and discuss the issues related to managing the return to the workplace.
Joint Council	Digital Change, OCIO	Monthly	The Public Sector Chief Information Officer Council and the Public Sector Service Delivery Council (also known as the Joint Councils) are pan-Canadian interjurisdictional Councils focused on citizens-centred service delivery.
GC EARB: Government of Canada Enterprise Architecture Review Board	OCIO Committee Secretariat	Bi-weekly	To further the Government of Canada Enterprise Vision by validating, recommending and approving IM/IT solutions that will further the “Whole of Government agenda as one Enterprise.” The EARB will achieve this by setting Government of Canada Enterprise priorities in cooperation with its constituent Government of Canada departments.
Government of Canada Secret Infrastructure Strategic Management Committee	Chief Technology Officer Sector, OCIO	Quarterly	The Government of Canada Secret Infrastructure Strategic Management Committee provides senior-level decision-making, advice and guidance for the development, prioritization, implementation, and ongoing operations of the Government of Canada Secret Infrastructure enterprise capabilities that meets the Government of Canada needs.
SOC: Service Officials Council	OCIO Committee Secretariat	Bimonthly	The SOC supports improved service management across the GC and enables client-centric service design and delivery. The SOC will act as an interactive forum for information sharing and discussion of key issues related to the management of Government of Canada service, particularly for external and internal enterprise services.

*The DM can but does not generally attend the ADM-level meetings.

OCIO: July 2021