Speech by Belinda Stronach, Minister for Service Canada, and Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

On the Occasion of the Service Canada Launch at the Official Opening of a New Service Canada Centre at Canada Quay, Harbourfront, Toronto

September 14, 2005

Thank you for your kind introduction and warm welcome. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to be here with you today and to be joined by my colleagues, Ministers Joe Volpe, Ken Dryden and Tony Ianno.

Most of you know that before entering politics, I spent a good part of my life in the business world. In the private sector, people have a choice - when they're unhappy with service, they go elsewhere. The bottom line is that service matters.

That said, Canadians don't have a choice about where to go when they need to apply for Employment Insurance, or when they need to get a Social Insurance Number for a child, or when it comes time for them to get back some of what they've put into society with Old Age Security payments. For all these services, Canadians must go to the Government of Canada. We are in the business of service delivery. We deliver 123.8 million individual benefit payments annually - for a total of $65.7 billion each year.

Every day, we serve millions of Canadians. We provide them with information, benefits, programs and services that can help make their lives better.

What Canadians Want

Canadians expect value for their tax dollars. Simply put, we have not been meeting their service expectations. They have told us how frustrating it can be to get service and information from government. They wonder why they have to fill out so many forms asking for the same information. And they don't see why they should be bounced around from one government department to another to get something done.

Canadians have said they want simple, efficient and courteous service. They want faster, easier access to service and benefits. They also want convenience - the ability to choose when, how and where to get service. And they want personalized assistance from people who can help them quickly find the right information about the programs and services they need.

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Some people might say: if we've been hearing this from Canadians, why haven't we done anything about it? Well, we have. The Government of Canada has not been standing still when it comes to service. For example:

• We consolidated 170 different Web sites into a single site to make it easier to access on-line service for Employment Insurance, Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security and Canada Student Loans, along with a number of other social programs.
  
  
• And we brought together 23 independent call centres into a single network that handles over a million more calls for the same cost. Service Canada manages this network and the 1 800 O-Canada phone line, and answers a majority of the calls to the Government of Canada.

But we have more work to do.

Meeting the needs of Canadians

Today, I am delighted to be launching Service Canada, which will take government service delivery to a whole new level.

Our goal is to provide better services to more Canadians in more communities with the right service attitude.

Service Canada is the Government of Canada's new service delivery organization, where departments work together to provide service that puts our clients - Canadians - at the centre of everything we do.

Canadians should not have to go from one department to the next, trying to find the service they need.

The Service Canada concept is much like a retail network for the Government of Canada, with services from many departments under one roof, so to speak.

And we are giving Canadians more choice in how they access our services. They can call our 1 800 O-Canada line, they can visit one of our Service Canada centres across the country, or they can click on our Web site.

Making Service Canada Happen

That kind of service excellence starts with good people. All of our front-line staff have received new training to help Canadians access the federal services they need in a timely, professional and efficient manner.

I am happy to be here in Canada Quay at our new Centre because it is part and parcel of the innovative approach that Service Canada represents - in providing services and benefits to Canadians with the assistance of trained and helpful staff. And I should add that staff here offer service in several languages.

Our goal with Service Canada is to serve all Canadians well. We must be able to reflect the reality of Canada and respond to the needs of citizens in various regions and local communities.

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Service Canada is committed to ensuring Canadians know about its services, by having a presence in communities across the country. We already have a network of 320 Service Canada centres - such as our location here at Canada Quay, and in Verdun, Quebec, where my colleague Liza Frulla will unveil the Service Canada banner later today.

By 2006, we plan to double our points of service - reaching 1.25 million more Canadians in many rural, remote and northern areas that have been underserved in the past.

And we are going to do this in new and innovative ways. Canadians may be surprised to hear that we will be coming to them - by sending our staff to rural communities one or two days a week, for example, or by visiting seniors in seniors' centres and nursing homes to help them access our services and benefits.

Some of our new points of service will be the result of stronger partnerships with provincial, territorial and local governments - by co-locating services for example. Working together to serve the same citizens only makes sense. It is, in fact, the truest reflection of our commitment to serving Canadians through better use of existing resources.

What Service Canada Offers

As of today, Service Canada provides services and benefits for more than 50 Government of Canada programs. I'd like to tell you about some of those services:

Thanks to Service Canada, Canadians can now apply for passports in 23 Service Canada locations across the country. More than 14,000 Canadians have already done so.

And in pilot locations in Quebec and Alberta, people can apply for and receive a Social Insurance Number in one visit. By the end of the year, that service will be available in any one of our Service Canada points of service.

That said, Service Canada is not just about faster and more efficient service - it's about this government's commitment to working with Canadians to strengthen our society by making sure people have access to the services and benefits they need, when they need them.

The Government of Canada's Service Commitment

We are determined to give ourselves the tools to meet our service commitment to Canadians who use Service Canada. In that spirit, we will back up our commitment with a Service Charter - a Charter which spells out what Canadians can expect from us and how they can provide feedback on the quality of our service.

In other words, if you use our services, we want to know if we are we doing the job for you. If so, let us know. If not, tell us and we'll make it right.

Conclusion

I am proud to lead Service Canada, and I'm proud to be able to work for the benefit of people in communities in every corner of this great country. I look forward to working with the public service unions to ensure a supportive working environment for our 22,000 employees.

Backed by the team here on stage with me today and our highly skilled and motivated staff all across Canada, we will meet our number one goal - providing better service to more Canadians in more communities. And we'll do it with the right service attitude - because Canadians come first.

Thank you very much.

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