Media Room

Speeches

Speaking notes for
the Honourable Scott Brison
Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada

Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce

August 19, 2005

Check against delivery

Good morning everyone. Thank you for being here today, and a special welcome to my colleagues Keith Martin and David Anderson.

It’s wonderful to be here on the west coast. I always enjoy speaking to Chambers of Commerce.

I know everyone in this room is working hard on developing the regional economy in areas including advanced technology, and marine science. Ottawa may seem a long way away, but we want to work with you to help this city and all of Vancouver Island flourish.

The reason that I wanted to talk to you today was to relate some of the exciting things that are now being done by a very activist federal government under Prime Minister Paul Martin.

We are changing the culture of government. And we are doing so by keeping our promises. Promises to invest in childcare, in healthcare, in Canadian communities.

We are also supporting Justice Gomery’s work relating to sponsorship. It was a tough decision to appoint Justice Gomery…but it was the right thing to do.

Sometimes people ask me about how tough it must be to answer questions in the house of commons day after day and defend that decision…Not at all. I’m proud of our Prime Minister for having the courage to make that tough decision.

We’ve already been reacting vigorously to make sure it never happens again – such as overhauling advertising rules, bringing in whistleblower legislation, and introducing tough ethical rules. And we’ll be doing more – much more – once we get the recommendations from Justice Gomery.

Canadians deserve answers. Canadians deserve justice. And taxpayers deserve respect. And that’s exactly what we are doing.

Through expenditure review, we are moving to find $12 billion in government spending to reallocate from low to high priority areas. It’s the type of exercise the private sector does all the time. You probably do it in your own family.

Also, the department of Public Works is set to contribute almost a third of that target. Let me tell you how will we get that done.

We intend to save $2.5 billion over the next five years in acquisitions by buying smarter. We now spend more than $1 billion dollars a month on everything from helicopters to vaccines to office supplies, and often we pay too much. As business people, you can imagine what a simple 10 percent improvement in prices would mean. So we intend to do that and more.

Now let’s look at all the various things the Martin government has been doing specifically to respond to the needs of British Columbians…the list is long.

British Columbia will receive about five and a half billion dollars in additional health care funding over the next 10 years.

B.C. was also the very first province to benefit from the campaign vow to bring in a new deal for communities. This will translate into some $636 million to cities in this province over the next five years to build infrastructure and transit systems.

There is more good news. As you all know, the eyes of the world will be on the west coast as Vancouver and Whistler host the Winter Olympics. Ottawa has invested in more than $400 million to help make this the best games ever.

For the first time, we are also locating a major federal organization in B.C. – the Canadian Tourism Commission. It will bring jobs, a large budget and international attention as it promotes Beautiful British Columbia and the rest of Canada as “the” place to visit.

There is so much more. For example, money for research at U.B.C and more support for farmers and new Canadians.

Just yesterday, I announced a contract that will be given to Allied Shipbuilders in North Vancouver for the refit of the CCGS Gordon Reid vessel. This is great news for the B.C. economy.

And we are hoping that British Columbia will soon sign onto Canada’s newest national social program for childcare and early learning. Six provinces have already done so. I know that my colleague Ken Dryden has had positive talks with your provincial government about this exciting program - one worth $633 million dollars for British Columbia over five years. We all know how important it is to give children the best possible start in life.

The reason all this is possible is because Paul Martin as Finance Minister had slayed the deficit dragon. Under his watch, the economy of this country has become the envy of the world. For example, we’re the only country in the G8 in a surplus position – for eight years now and counting.

It’s because of that fiscal rectitude and discipline that we’ve been able to invest in the priorities of Canadians.

As I said before, it pushes us to be more disciplined in our buying. For example, Public Works has become the procurement arm of government. So for the first time, we are taking a whole-of-government approach to procurement using economies of scale.

There are already success stories with discounts of as much as 25 or 30 percent on some of our purchases such as office furniture, and 20 percent on computers.

There have been some concerns from small business who fear being squeezed out of government purchasing. I can assure you this will not be the case. It is in the interests of the Government of Canada to encourage more competition. So we have set up an Office of Small Business to in effect act as an ombudsman for small business.

We will also continue to have regional standing offers. We’re creating commodity councils with representatives from industry to try to determine the right balance between efficiency and the impact on small and regional business. We’re looking at having major contracts include small and medium sized businesses. I want to assure you that we are striving for a flexible model that will not compromise fair access to government opportunities.

The other major area of savings will be in our real estate portfolio where we intend to save another one billion dollars over five years. Public Works is the landlord for more than 200 thousand public servants across Canada and we think we can do better while still saving taxpayers money – your money. After all, our studies showed that the federal government has been spending about 20 percent more per square foot to operate a building than the private sector average.

Already we are saving tens of millions of dollars by outsourcing the maintenance of many buildings. We’re also cutting the amount of space per employee to be more in line with the private sector. We’re taking a more aggressive approach to leasing space, and we’re looking at cost sharing or co-locating federal offices with our provincial and municipal counterparts across Canada.

This is above and beyond our larger study of what to do with the buildings we own – on how to manage our portfolio in the most effective, efficient and environmentally sound way. That could include a range of options – selling government buildings, outsourcing management or setting up REIT’s, real estate investment trusts.

We’re now at the point of asking for private sector advice on what is the best way to house our civil servants at the best price for taxpayers.

Speaking of environmentally sound…

This government has put forward it’s greenest budget in Canadian history – more than $600M was invested and we’re committed to double this investment in the next three years. I know this is a cause dear to David’s heart and his hard work is paying off.

Back in April, Public Works opened up a new Office of Greening Government Operations. It will provide a government-wide centre of expertise and leadership on environmental issues. It will give guidance to the federal community on such issues as green procurement, green property management, recycling and waste management, and remediation of contaminated sites.

Public Works has a significant management role in the clean-up of federal contaminated sites in and around the Victoria area.

For example, the firefighting training area in Colwood and the clean-up of the former Yarrow Shipyards in Esquimalt. Another example is the Esquimalt Graving Dock, a leader in environmental stewardship.

You know a lot of politicians get turned on by spending money. I get excited by saving money.

After all, this is a government that keeps it promises and that delivers for this province.

And it’s a government that is committed to ethics and accountability and the need to always show the utmost respect for hard-earned taxpayers dollars.

British Columbians and Canadians deserve nothing less.

Thank you!