Environment Canada's four Departmental priorities are supported by innovative approaches to policies and programs, and integrated management practices. Departmental efforts in this regard are managed by and reported under its fourth strategic outcome: Provide strategic and effective departmental management to achieve environmental results. Refer to Section 4.4 for more details.

Innovative approach to Policies and Programs

Given the complexity of environmental issues and the public's rising expectations for environmental results, Environment Canada needs to develop strategies that emphasize a more innovative approach to environmental management that encourages a more integrated and long-term perspective.

Developing the Government-wide Environment and Sustainable Development Agenda

The Department advocates, within the federal system, the development of an overarching framework that would situate the environment agenda within the context of sustainable development and help identify priorities grounded in a fact-based understanding of where, when and how the government needs to act.

Environment Canada provides leadership on sustainable development across the federal government. Work is continuing to advance a government-wide sustainable development strategy which would promote a shared vision and priority areas for coordinated action to support sustainable development in Canada and abroad.

• For further details on our initiatives related to sustainable development, see Section 6.3.
  
  

Enhancing knowledge and use of innovative policy instruments

A prerequisite to innovative action is sound environmental knowledge - it is the only way to ensure that Environment Canada identifies the problems, develops effective solutions and takes the required action for lasting results.

An important means of mobilizing environmental science resources for more and better exchange of information in support of decision-making is to establish a strategic information system that integrates the efforts of the many programs, services and organizations handling environmental issues. The Department continues the developmental work associated with establishing environmental indicators. The recent indicators report issued by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) and the Statistics Canada proposal to expand the National Accounts System to include natural capital are cutting-edge efforts that could place Canada at the forefront of measuring the importance of the environment for economic prosperity, provide better tools for decision-makers, and enable improved accountability to Canadians.

The key to addressing environmental challenges will be to influence the behaviours of industry and Canadians. The Department needs policy instruments that will help manage the interaction between the economy and the environment more effectively. By using the full array of policy instruments - economic, regulatory and voluntary - the Department can ensure that good economic decisions will also be good environmental decisions. This is what smart regulation is all about.

Strengthening Environmental Cooperation with Key Partners

The environment is the ultimate horizontal issue. For effective risk management, the federal government must increasingly work with the provinces and territories, municipalities, Aboriginal peoples, industry leaders, research bodies, communities, citizen groups and civil society as a whole. Addressing environmental issues is a shared responsibility, which requires partnership among different sectors within society to design lasting solutions.

Canada played a leadership role at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) through its advocacy of issues such as poverty alleviation, women's rights, international environmental governance, addressing water and biodiversity issues globally, health and environment linkages and sustainable development. To continue to move our agenda forward, Canada needs to build on its established credibility in key global and regional institutions and, more generally, with the international community.

Environment Canada needs to work in collaboration with other countries and international organizations to improve the effectiveness of international environmental governance mechanisms and to enable countries with diverse cultures and wide-ranging economic realities to come together and find common ground to move forward. Canada has also taken an active role in promoting mutual supportiveness of trade and environmental policy in international trade agreements. These areas pose a substantial challenge - but are also of critical importance in terms of addressing environmental issues in Canada.

• For further details on Environment Canada's initiatives related to innovative approaches to policies and programs, please refer to the work of the Management, Administration and Policy Business Line in Section 4.4.1
  
  

Integrated Management

Accountability, Stewardship and Risk Management

For the past two years, Environment Canada has been implementing its Modern Management Action Plan (MMAP) which is centered on transforming the way the Department works by building management capacity necessary to deliver policy and program initiatives. The Plan was created to address opportunities for improvements identified in a departmental self-assessment of basic financial and management systems, procedures and operational capacity needed to ensure a solid foundation for modern management practices.

To date, Environment Canada's MMAP, modeled after Results for Canadians: A Management Framework for the Government of Canada, has provided the vehicle to ensure continual improvement in a variety of management areas. Presently, work is proceeding on the development of a second generation of the initial Plan that builds on the progress made so far, but that also incorporates a stronger focus on the expectations set out by the Treasury Board Secretariat's recently articulated Management Accountability Framework.

Environment Canada will continue to ensure managers have the tools and expertise they need to meet the broad standards set out by central agencies to ensure a culture of sound management and accountability within the federal public service. This includes attention to developing enhanced capabilities in managing in an environment of financial reallocation.

Citizen-Focused Service

Environment Canada is placing a particular emphasis on service to Canadians. The Department is in the process of developing a strategic approach to service that concentrates on the point of connection with Canadians. The better we can connect Environment Canada's science, policies, regulations, information and advice with Canadians, the more effective Canada will be in achieving its societal outcome of sustainable development.

A refocused approach will help Environment Canada make more informed decisions about the services it provides to Canadians. It will help the Department know if it is providing the right services, to the right people, in the right way, with the right partners, within its mandate and in the context of emerging priorities. This knowledge will enable the Department to take action to improve current services, create new ones, and assess when a service offering has run its course.

The Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) has begun a supporting effort on service improvement. Initiatives to ensure that services are improved include: automated delivery and customization of information and products; the renewal of the weather website; an increasing focus on public access to all data and information; and new service delivery agreements with key media and private sector partners.

Environment Canada's People

Environment Canada has gone through a decade of significant change which has included restructuring, transformation and new legislative and regulatory demands. In addition, the changing demographics of the Department mean that many of the new challenges will be met by the recruitment of new employees.

Environment Canada is at a crossroads with regard to the management of human resources. The impact of changing pressures and the new Human Resources Modernization Framework will lead to significant strategic decisions regarding how "people management" needs to be conducted within the Department and where we want to make investments to improve our approach and systems for the longer term.

Starting in 2004-2005, Environment Canada's human resource management activities will be guided by an overarching "People Plan." This initiative is intended to communicate the Department's people-management commitments and overall direction to all levels of management and staff.

• For further details on Environment Canada's initiatives related to integrated management, please refer to the work of the Management, Administration and Policy Business Line in Section 4.4.2