Report Card — September 21, 2005

Greening Government Operations

On September 21, 2004, Minister Brison gave his strategic vision speech for delivering services smarter, faster and at a reduced cost.
Budget 2005 confirmed that our goal is to help lead the government's sustainable development agenda with initiatives such as green procurement and energy efficient buildings.

On April 22, 2005, PWGSC announced the creation of the Office of Greening Government Operations (OGGO) to provide government-wide leadership on greening government operations and facilitate the management of greening activities from a government-wide perspective.
The OGGO will enable PWGSC, with its great deal of experience in sustainable development, to become the principal source of advice and guidance for the federal community regarding greening operations, specifically green procurement, green property management, recycling and waste management, and risk management and remediation of contaminated sites.

Our Green Procurement Policy will be completed, approved and implemented by 2006. This new policy will govern all procurement, and is going to put the government in a leadership position worldwide in terms of integrating environmental considerations into all aspects of our procurement.

More than 100 standing offers which include provisions for green goods and services are now in place with Canadian companies. Given our purchasing volumes, it's clear that we can have a huge positive impact, stimulate markets for environmentally sound products, and demonstrate real leadership in greening government.

We are committed to ensure that new buildings we construct will be at least 25 percent more energy efficient than the Model National Energy Code for Buildings.
This summer, PWGSC reduced the amount of energy consumed in its Ontario buildings by about 3 percent: the equivalent of about 300 homes turning off all their electricity during the peak demand periods. We are currently examining ways to apply these kinds of energy saving measures to all our buildings across the country.

New government office buildings will now meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED – Canada) Gold Standard for sustainability.
A shining example is the new Government of Canada Building in Yellowknife – the first LEED office building north of 60 – and one of the healthiest, most energy efficient buildings ever designed in Canada.

PWGSC is actively involved with environmental remediation right across Canada.
We negotiated an important two-year contract with Deton'Cho Nuna Joint Venture to ensure the Giant Gold Mine in Yellowknife remains in compliance with all health, safety and environmental requirements until a final remediation plan is confirmed.