44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 19, 2022 10:00AM
- May/19/22 3:25:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there are few interactions that are memorable in this place for a new member and even fewer that are genuine, especially for a new member, and that describes the few interactions I have had with the member opposite.
I would like to thank the member for his service to this country and this place. I look forward to seeing that continued service in the next place.
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- May/19/22 3:30:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, briefly, first of all, I give a profound thanks to my colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands and the Green Party.
The service is in a far part of the world. It is in the Asia region that deals with humanitarian and development issues. I will have more to say and will be happy to explain some of the details in person. I very much look forward to serving in that part of the world, a region that I have not worked in before. There is a whole host of challenges there that are facing the organization and its member states.
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- May/19/22 3:34:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the chief government whip, for his kind comments. Again, this is about service. In his case, it is long-standing service, not only in the House but also for our party, our vision and the values we defend. All colleagues look to him as somebody with tremendous experience, which he shares very openly and willingly. We all benefit from his accomplishments, his vision and his ability to pull people together across the aisles. I very much appreciate his words and friendship.
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- May/19/22 4:19:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that was a great question.
My office staff as well have been very frustrated since the beginning of this pandemic. My office has turned into a Service Canada office. We are happy to serve the people of Lambton—Kent—Middlesex. In fact, I am going to take the time right now to thank my staff who have worked tirelessly for constituents to help them with any of their needs while the Service Canada offices were closed. I send my thanks to Yvonne, Todd, Kim, David, Anna Marie and Jordan. I appreciate all the work that they have done to help my constituents.
In the future, I would hope that the government would hire more people, reopen its offices, drop the mandates, get people back to work in their offices so they can do the jobs that we are paying them to do as taxpayers in Canada and restore the services back to prepandemic levels so we can get on with our lives.
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- May/19/22 4:35:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, some of my constituents have concerns. The government has been slowly lifting some of the pandemic requirements, and that includes what is going on in terms of travel. The government knew that and anticipated it. On its website, it has put out information for the public as well.
To that end, the government should have anticipated that travel would escalate, and therefore that demand for services would increase, both at the airport, with people passing through, and at passport offices. However, we have chaos going on, and people are lined up for very long times and cannot get through. At passport offices in my own riding of Vancouver East, people have to tent overnight to try to get service.
How come the government did not anticipate that and ensure that adequate resources and staffing were in place?
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- May/19/22 5:05:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there are things I truly appreciated in my colleague's speech and things I do not agree with. One thing he touched on were the wait times at the airports. When we see the wait times at airports or passport services, we know the government has not adequately staffed the resources to respond to the increase in the amount of travel.
We have constantly heard complaints like these from Conservatives over the years. It is always a surprise to me when Conservatives say there are not enough public servants. They cut services, then they complain about it. The repercussions are delays in service. We saw that happen with Veterans Affairs under the Stephen Harper government. It cut a third of Veterans Affairs, and that made a backlog that exists even to this day.
Does my good friend and colleague not agree in the importance of investing in public services to support Canadians and make sure that they get the services they deserve and need?
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- May/19/22 7:19:29 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the procurement service workers are doing an absolutely fantastic job. I want to thank them. The full-time equivalent of procurement service workers is 2,193.
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- May/19/22 7:46:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, is the minister committed to reigning in outsourcing to ensure Canadians are getting value for services and that we maintain institutional knowledge, skills and expertise in the public service?
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- May/19/22 7:46:35 p.m.
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Madam Chair, whenever we can use in-service, we do. We cannot say we want Phoenix fixed tomorrow even though we do not have the skills and the expertise inside to fix it, and then say that we cannot go out. We go out when we need to go out, because we need the expertise.
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- May/19/22 7:46:54 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the announcement of a strategic review of the public service and potential cuts of up to $6 billion has prompted concern from hard-working public servants and Canadians who rely on public services. The last time a strategic review happened, the Harper government cut service delivery for veterans, people on EI and many others, while going after 19,000 public service jobs. The lack of details about this review is concerning.
Can the minister reassure Canadians that this review will not impact service levels, and that the federal public service unions will be consulted throughout the process?
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- May/19/22 10:23:23 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Kitchener Centre.
It is a pleasure to stand before this committee to speak about the vast and integral work that Shared Services Canada, or SSC, does on behalf of Canadians and how it is keeping the private information of Canadians safe and secure in an increasingly hostile digital world.
SSC plays a vital role in supporting government operations. As a common service provider, SSC works to support the whole of the federal government as it delivers digital programs and services that meet the needs of Canadians. SSC continues to invest in technology and expertise that support an enterprise approach to its IT services and support by enabling federal government departments and agencies to shift toward the use of common IT systems.
This approach is not only more efficient than individual departments working independently of one another when it comes to their IT, but also safer. An enterprise approach helps the government reduce duplicated costs, achieve faster turnarounds and enhance cross-departmental collaboration when addressing problems. It provides more secure and reliable services and reduces risk. Ultimately, it helps us serve Canadians better.
SSC is working on several fronts to make smart, future-looking investments in the interest of better serving Canadians. This modern, adaptable digital approach is working to fully support the needs of Canadians. Through its data centres, networks and cloud service providers, SSC operates an infrastructure that powers the thousands of applications required for government operations that enable the delivery of essential digital services to Canadians.
Over the course of the worldwide COVID pandemic, the Government of Canada has continued to serve Canadians. Much of that work was a result of SSC being able to keep the lights on during those dark and uncertain days. Throughout the pandemic, SSC adapted to our collective new realities by launching new online collaboration tools for thousands of public servants working from home.
At the same time, SSC bolstered online portals vital to communicating with Canadians about programs and supports available to them and their families. This was no small achievement. To facilitate virtual work, SSC quickly performed major upgrades to the enterprise network, government-wide Internet and network security, the result being a modern, mobile workforce at the service of Canadians wherever they may be.
Recognizing the increased global attention that hybrid working models are now receiving, SSC is continuing to work to implement the technology and network upgrades necessary to enable the effective communication and collaborative tools for employees who will return to their workplace. This kind of digital government needs a high-performing and resilient enterprise network. Shared Services Canada is responsible for providing network infrastructure and services to almost half a million users across government departments and agencies to effectively deliver services to Canadians.
In an increasingly uncertain and hostile digital world, cybersecurity has become more important than ever, providing Canadians access to more and more programs and services online while simultaneously meeting the security and privacy expectations of the public.
The national cybersecurity strategy announced in 2018 is working to keep Canadians safe from evolving cybersecurity threats that target Canadians, Canadian businesses and our critical infrastructure. I am pleased to note that budget 2022 proposes to provide $875.2 million over five years and $238.2 million thereafter for those necessary measures to nimbly address the rapidly evolving cyber-threat landscape. This includes $178.7 million over five years allocated to SSC and CSE.
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- May/19/22 10:39:34 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, what I would say in response to that question is that the pilot we are running actually includes a postal banking service because we know this has been raised. We look forward to the results of what this pilot reveals.
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