June 7, 2023
Minutes of the Audit and Evaluation Committee (AEC) Meeting
June 7, 2023
09:30am to 10:30am
Hybrid Meeting
Microsoft Teams
Members:
Janine Sherman, External member – Chair
André Grondines, External member
Caroline Maynard, Information Commissioner
Secretary to the Committee:
Bojana Terzic, Team Lead -Strategic Planning, Policy and Program Evaluation and Audit
Regular attendees:
France Labine, Deputy Commissioner, Corporate Services, Strategic Planning and Transformation Services, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Audit Executive (CAE)
Senior Management Committee:
Layla Michaud, Deputy Commissioner, Investigations and Governance
Gino Grondin, Deputy Commissioner, Legal Services and Public Affairs
Guests:
Catherine Lapalme, Principal, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Sébastien Lafond, Director, Finance, Procurement, Administration and Security and Deputy Chief Financial Officer (DCFO)
Meeting Summary
Approval of Agenda and Record of Decisions and action items from the February 8, 2023 meeting.
Formal introduction of permanent members to the Chair, Mrs. Janine Sherman and approval of the updates to the forward calendar.
Presentation of the OIC key controls for salary expenditures in modified environment (during strike).
Presentation of the OIC financial position at the end of 2022-23 and financial situation at the beginning of 2023-24.
Presentation of the highlights of upcoming corporate initiatives and activities.
1. Welcome and Opening Remarks
The Chair and the Commissioner welcomed everyone to the meeting.
The Commissioner introduced the Chair to the committee, welcomed her arrival and expressed appreciation for the Chair’s extensive experience and understanding of the mechanisms of government operations.
2. Forward Calendar Approval
Forward Calendar was approved.
3. Minutes and Action Items from the February 8, 2023 Meeting.
The members approved the minutes of the February 8, 2023 meeting with minor corrections.
The action items were reviewed and approved.
Action item:
- Publication of the minutes of the February 8, 2023 meeting on the OIC website.
4. MAP Follow-up (strike impact)– Presented by S. Lafond
Senior Director, Finance presented strengthened key controls over pay transactions. Process was reviewed during the recent PSAC strike to ensure conformity to the pay standards and business processes.
External Member congratulated the OIC for this practice and asked few questions related to the pay during strike scenarios. Senior Director, Finance responded and explained the impact for OIC.
Chair enquired about manual data entry and interconnectivity of HR management systems (MyGCHR and Phoenix) and Senior Director, Finance and Chief Financial Officer explained details of operations stressing benefits of the OIC not being served by Miramichi (Common services versus in-house capacity), HR operations and direct control for processing these type of transactions in both systems.
Action item:
- none
5. Financial Situation and Strategies – Presented by S. Lafond
Senior Director, Finance presented 2022-23 Year-End Financial Situation and 2023-24 Resource Realignment.
He provided details of planned spending highlighting key staffing processes and major IT investments.
External Member enquired about planned staffing processes as well as turnover rate and hiring strategies. Senior Director, Finance, Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Commissioner, Investigations explained in more details OIC HR strategies.
External Member also enquired about the timelines for implementation of major IT investments and contingency funds. Senior Director, Finance and Chief Financial Officer provided details and pointed to plans and phases as well as reliance on internal resources. Deputy Commissioner, Legal Services and Public Affairs contributed view on contingency management with respect to litigations.
Senior Director, Finance introduced key upcoming strategic initiatives and next steps: Leading Independent funding mechanism for Agents of Parliament, accountability reporting burden review, and temporary funding request to eliminate the multi-year backlog reduction initiative.
Members endorsed these key initiatives.
Action item:
- No action required.
In Camera Session
A brief in camera discussion was held with the Commissioner, the Chair and the two external members.
Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for September 20, 2023.