Opening Statement

by

Maria Barrados,

President of the Public Service Commission,

at

House of Commons

Standing Committee

on

Government Operations and Estimates

November 5, 2009

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Madam Chair and Honourable Members,

Thank you for this opportunity to meet with you to discuss the work of the Public Service Commission – in particular, the Public Service Commission 2008-2009 Annual Report and five audit reports, all of which were tabled in Parliament on October 9th.

The Annual Report covers the third year of operation under the Public Service Employment Act or PSEA.  In 2008-2009, the legislation covered 82 organizations representing more than 208,000 employees, casual workers, and students. We have seen continued growth in these organizations.

We also saw a high level of hiring and staffing activity, generated by the growth of the public service, retirements and a high level of internal movement.

Based on our various oversight activities in 2008-2009, we have concluded that the core values of merit and non-partisanship are generally being respected across the public service.

Nonetheless, the Public Service Commission is concerned about early and important signs that added vigilance is required to ensure that Canadians will continue to benefit from a merit-based, non-partisan public service in the years ahead.

One of the primary expectations of the PSEA was that staffing would be faster and more efficient.  We have not gained anticipated efficiencies as measured by speed of staffing for indeterminate advertised processes.  Inefficient staffing directly affects the delivery of quality programs and services to Canadians and encourages managers to rely on casual employees and temporary workers to staff permanent positions.

The average time to staff is currently about 23.5 weeks.  This number can be reduced easily by 30% within the existing system, provided that overall human resources management is improved.

The PSC shares the concerns raised by members of this Committee about the inappropriate use of temporary workers to fill established public service jobs on a long-term basis.  We are moving forward with a study that will examine this issue and assess how such practices may be circumventing the PSEA.

I would now like to turn to employment equity.  We are making progress in the appointment rate of visible minorities into the public service through advertised positions, reaching 18.8% in 2008-2009. This rate is greater than the workforce availability of visible minorities. The same holds true for women and Aboriginal peoples.  However, the public service is not sufficiently attracting persons with disabilities and their recruitment rate continues to be lower than their workforce availability.

This year, the PSC observed new challenges with respect to protecting the value of non-partisanship.  We are beginning to see more complex cases that, while individually appropriate, may undermine the overall perception of the political impartiality of the public service.  Thousands of new recruits are entering the public service for the first time, and the use of social media technology blurs the line between public and private lives.  We believe that increased efforts are required to foster a better understanding of non-partisanship as a core public service value.

Now I will turn to the findings of our recent audits.  This year, based on our assessment of risk, we examined five organizations. We undertake our audits as part of our responsibility in our delegated staffing system to identify actions that are required to improve the management of staffing.

Based on our findings as well as the responsiveness of each organization to our recommendations, we have taken the following measures:

The Office of the Correctional Investigator has put corrective measures in place, and we have removed all restrictions on their appointment authorities.

Canada Border Services Agency has already taken a number of initiatives, and they are moving forward. We have asked for detailed plans, and will conduct a follow-up audit in two years.

At both Health Canada and Infrastructure Canada, senior management moved quickly to undertake corrective actions in response to our audits, and have committed to strengthening their human resources management. They are also required to provide additional reporting to make sure that progress is maintained.

At the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), we found preferential treatment in staffing processes for some executive appointments and former Governor-in-Council (GIC) appointees.  GICs are appointed by Ministers, while public servants are appointed by the PSC, which is independent from ministerial direction.  Senior management at IRB disagreed with some of our findings. We will continue to do work at the IRB over the course of the next year:

• the PSC will investigate any internal appointment process resulting from the audit, and upon receipt of the investigation report, IRB has agreed to implement corrective measures;
• as we deem necessary, the PSC will continue to audit appointments made by the IRB; and
• the IRB will report to the Commission on the implementation of the recommendations in the audit report within six months.

I would now like to update the Committee on our progress with respect to our audit concerning the unauthorized possession and use of the PSC’s second language evaluation test.  We are implementing the recommendations of this audit, and we have reviewed overall test security and taken appropriate measures.

The 115 students who took the tests following their Nec Plus Ultra (NPU) training have been given two years in which to be re-tested by the PSC.  This re-testing is underway.  The PSC also agreed to review the cases of those students who wanted to bring forward any exceptional circumstances.   To date, the PSC has resolved 26 cases.

Issues have been raised by NPU and Mrs. Madeleine Rundle’s new legal counsel about the manner in which the PSC has treated NPU, about the content of the Audit report and about how the PSC is dealing with the public servants who attended NPU for language training.  The issues raised reflect an inaccurate interpretation of the facts.  I have asked the Department of Justice to commence legal proceedings to recover the costs resulting from this situation.

We are also moving forward with our preparations for the five-year review of the PSEA.  We are taking stock of the implementation of the Act, whether it has been implemented as intended and whether it equips the PSC and others to protect merit and non-partisanship in the years ahead.

It is time to consider succession planning for the current Commission. As such, I would like to see two new Commissioners appointed to start staggering appointments and transition to the new Commission.

The Public Service Commission has been given a special responsibility by Parliament to independently safeguard the values of merit and non-partisanship as the foundation of a professional and impartial public service.  We are committed to achieving this important mandate on behalf of Parliament and all Canadians.

Thank you.  We are happy to take your questions.