Media Room

Speeches

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

On the occasion of the
Certified General Accountants
(Economic News Luncheon)

December 7, 2004
Ottawa, Ontario

Check against delivery

Thank you, Carole. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

This weekend will mark the first anniversary of the new Paul Martin government. And this Friday will also mark a very special occasion for me. It's my first anniversary as a big L Liberal. I was always accused of being a small L Liberal in my former ideologically rigid political environment.

And today marks the first time that I have the pleasure of speaking at a CGA Economic News Luncheon.

Now the CGA represents accountants: expert number-crunchers who are more than capable of judging financial well-being.

And I'm sure you'll agree that Canada is doing well economically and fiscally.

Far be it for me, a lowly politician and former investment banker, to bombard you with economic factoids.

Still, all Canadians should feel proud of our economic success: our low interest rates, low inflation, and historically low unemployment rate. Our dollar has strengthened. And we're paying down the national debt.

Canada has achieved seven consecutive surpluses with the latest at $9.1 billion.

It's easy to become complacent and rest on our financial laurels with this kind of international success under our belt. That would be the wrong thing to do. And that's why right now the Martin government is undertaking "Expenditure Review," an exercise to find $12 billion in savings over the next five years. That's $12 billion that can be reallocated to the priorities of Canadians.

I know some people may ask why we are undergoing a difficult and perhaps painful expenditure review process when the country is in a surplus position. The real question is why wouldn't all governments review their spending on an ongoing basis to eliminate waste and improve efficiency. Shouldn't there be a continuous review of expenditures as a normal way of doing business?

After all, government can then show ongoing respect for hard-working taxpayers and use their money wisely on what Canadians care about most.

I'm proud to be part of the Expenditure Review Committee. And I'm also proud to be doing my part as the minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada. Our goal is clear: to transform the way we do business to provide a better and smarter government.

I know something about business. I started up my first business when I was 19 to rent compact fridges to university students.

And I've also worked for a paint manufacturing business in the United States.

I know we can't always run the government exactly like a business. However, I think there's absolutely no reason why business discipline and practice can't be used to improve the efficiencies of government.

So today I'd like to talk to you about some of the initiatives we are undertaking to rethink, remodel and re-energize Public Works and Government Services Canada. Our department is in many ways the backbone of government. It acts as a procurement agency, as a landlord, as a lead agency for the federal information technology network and as a key player in the "greening" of government.

Let's look at each of those four areas.

Right now the Government of Canada buys more than a billion dollars of goods and services each and every month. That's everything from flu vaccines to helicopters to paper clips.

However, many of those buys are one-offs, done in isolation and fail to take advantage of economies of scale. Our research has suggested we can save at least 10 percent of our costs on these items by buying smarter. It may not sound like much but that 10 percent savings would free up more than a billion dollars a year, a billion dollars that could be spent on other priorities such health care, child care and communities.

We're already making progress and embracing technology as we embrace smarter buying. For example, we're now implementing the Government of Canada Marketplace - an innovative e-portal that will help us do faster purchasing while reducing the cost. Again that means better services while saving money.

I'd like to share a couple of success stories with you in terms of how we're buying smarter right now. We saved about 80 million dollars when we negotiated our new software contracts. In furniture, volume discounts resulted in a 16 percent savings from prices that had existed in our previous standing offers. And our recent negotiations on other services are also showing savings well north of 15 percent.

As well, my parliamentary secretary, Walt Lastewka, is doing the most extensive review of government procurement since 1963. And we're expecting his recommendations soon on how to build the more efficient and effective procurement system for the entire federal government.

Second, Public Works and Government Services Canada is a big landlord. It is one of the largest consumers and owners of office space in the country.

And again, we think there are ways to house our public servants in a more cost effective manner.

A lot of attention has been focused on the possibility of selling off some of our office buildings. No decisions have been made. But studies do show we spend 20 percent more per square foot to operate our properties. And furthermore, we have more space per employee than the private sector average. Bluntly, we need to be more efficient.

So we're looking at the economics of leasing versus owning our office buildings as well as other options such as outsourcing management or using REIT's, real estate investment trusts.

That's a mid-term project. But in the short term we're hoping to find a 10 percent savings in the $3 billion a year spent on housing our public servants. This can be done through a more aggressive leasing policy. By immediately enforcing standards on the usage of space. Or by becoming room-mates with provincial and municipal governments across Canada.

And again, we're making progress. Just two weeks ago I announced that SNC-Lavalin Profac won the new contract for property maintenance services. And that contract will save over $50 million per year over our estimated budget.

By the way, Minister McCallum recently was at the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance and he suggested smarter buying and better property management could even save as much as $4 billion over the next five years, or a third of his $12 billion target.

The third area is information technology. I've already mentioned the Government of Canada Marketplace. There's also the development of the Secure Channel. It will provide a world-class secure network to ensure Canadians can use their home computer to confidently, safely and conveniently do business with their government on-line 24/7.

For example, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada now uses the records of employment from employers to administer the Employment Insurance Fund. Those records are now being processed over the Internet using the Secure Channel. And the savings to employers are expected to reach $1.5 billion over a five-year period.

And lastly, I'd also like to turn my attention to a fourth area where Public Works and Government Services Canada has a lot of experience and expertise, and that's in sustainable development. "Greening" government is not only the right thing to do: it can save money as well.

Public Works and Government Services Canada is in the forefront of using low-emission vehicles. Our aim is to eventually move the entire government fleet to alternative or hybrid fuel vehicles as leases run out. Even if we save just 10 percent in fuel consumption for our fleet, the savings would be roughly $5 million a year.

We've made our own operations 33 percent more energy efficient since 1990 and reduced greenhouse gases by 24 percent. The result is an annual savings of $16 million a year in operating expenditures.

Public Works and Government Services Canada is also committed to "green" procurement and the purchase of environmentally friendly products. We're leading the way to greener building design. All new leases and renewals will be subject to "green leases" addressing such environmental standards as the management of wastewater, recycling and energy-efficient lighting fixtures.

Even by expanding electronic direct deposits, we will not only save $86 million this fiscal year but also spare about 45 thousand trees.

So we can do the right thing from an environmental perspective yet still save taxpayers dollars.

All of us in political life have a responsibility to always try to do better. And that's what the Martin government is trying to do: provide better government while respecting the public purse.

Today I've been talking about an ambitious vision of change. And it will require some difficult decisions.

However, those decisions pale in comparison to the tough decisions being taken every day by a family with two children living on 20 or 30 thousand dollars a year. If we make smart choices as government we may make their decisions a lot easier.

In closing, I want to repeat how determined I am to see this plan for smarter and greener government succeed. In doing so, we will ensure better value for tax dollars and better services to Canadians. I can tell you that Prime Minister Paul Martin expects nothing less. And Canadians deserve nothing less.

Thank you.