2021-22 Departmental Plan

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Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

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© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by
the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, 2021

Catalogue No. IP51-6E-PDF
ISSN 2371-7955

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Message from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

I am pleased to present the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) 2021-22 Departmental Plan.

A key focus of our work this year will be to contribute to the adoption of new federal privacy laws and to prepare the office for changes that will flow from these reforms.

In November 2020, the federal government introduced new private-sector privacy legislation, Bill C-11, the Consumer Privacy Protection Act. We welcome this Bill, and consider it a serious attempt to modernize the law. However, some aspects of the bill can and should be improved. With this in mind, we will offer our support to Parliamentarians with a view to ensuring they ultimately adopt legislation that better promotes respect for the right to privacy while enabling responsible innovation.

On the same day the government introduced C-11, the Department of Justice also launched a public consultation on reform of the Privacy Act, the public sector privacy law.

We will provide our best possible analysis and advice to government to support the development of an updated law that ensures federal institutions respect the privacy rights of Canadians.

These important proposed reforms represent significant developments in the history of privacy legislation in Canada.

Consequently, we will need to consider operational changes, including changes to our structure that we may need to adopt in order to implement changes to the law. It will also be important for our office to be adequately resourced to deliver on our new mandate.

We will complete this preparatory work while also pursuing, within the current legislative framework, the goals set out in our Departmental Results Framework to help empower Canadians to exercise their privacy rights and guide organizations to comply with their privacy obligations.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic will remain an important context for all of our work. We will continue to oversee compliance with Canada’s federal privacy laws in a remote work environment and a broader landscape where increased digitization resulting from the pandemic is creating new risks for privacy.

Over the coming year we will invest in our employees and support them in these uncertain times and transitional period.

This will include continuing to modernize our technology and tools to foster greater digital collaboration and effectiveness, especially since most of our staff are working remotely. We will also turn our minds to the future and the need to ensure our employees are well equipped to implement new laws to come.

All signs point to 2021-2022 being an important one for privacy in Canada.

Plans at a glance

1. Contribute to the adoption of laws that improve privacy protection.

Privacy plays an important role in increasing Canadians’ trust in the digital economy and in our federal institutions. Central to this role is having modern privacy laws and a well-resourced regulator with the tools needed to effectively ensure businesses and government meet their obligations. For years, the OPC has been advocating for stronger privacy laws that meet 21^st-century challenges. Recently, the government introduced Bill C-11, An Act to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act and the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts, and conducted public consultations to inform eventual Privacy Act reform.

Our office welcomes these developments and will dedicate significant resources in the coming year to these reforms.

2. Continue to focus on our Departmental Results Framework (DRF) goals

Our office will continue the course we have set in recent years with advancing our objectives set out in our DRF, to the extent possible with current resources. We will continue to make optimal use of resources to carry out our mission to protect and promote the privacy rights of Canadians.

3. Invest in, and support our employees in these times of change

Supporting staff is key to the office’s ability to carry out its mandate. Our office will continue to work towards maintaining a standard of organizational excellence as well as employee well-being and will continue to invest in the development of our workforce of tomorrow.

During this period of transition, it is important to incorporate effective change management strategies that balance existing institutional knowledge and experience with new approaches, while sustaining a committed, informed, diversified and inclusive workforce, well equipped to provide a high level of service in addressing the privacy issues of Canadians.

For more information on the OPC’s plans, priorities and planned results, see the “Core responsibilities: planned results and resources” section of this report.

Core responsibilities: planned results and resources

This section contains detailed information on the department’s planned results and resources for each of its core responsibilities.

Protection of Privacy Rights

Description

Ensure the protection of privacy rights of Canadians; enforce privacy obligations by federal government institutions and private-sector organizations; provide advice to Parliament on potential privacy implications of proposed legislation and government programs; promote awareness and understanding of rights and obligations under federal privacy legislation.

Planning highlights

In 2021-22, our office will pursue its efforts to deliver on its core responsibility, guided by its 3 departmental results: Privacy rights are respected and obligations are met; Canadians are empowered to exercise their privacy rights; Parliamentarians and public and private sector organizations are informed and guided to protect Canadians’ privacy rights.

We will continue our push for greater compliance with privacy obligations by businesses and federal institutions. To achieve this, we will continue to maximize the strategic use of our existing powers. This includes use of early resolution and summary investigation processes. These approaches allow our office to more flexibly dedicate resources to higher-risk privacy issues. To address high-impact issues, such as those that affect an entire industry sector or government program, we will continue to conduct Commissioner-initiated investigations to the extent that resources permit. We will also conduct a second round of breach records inspections, the results of which we expect to publish in 2021-22. Further, we will continue to collaborate with enforcement partners domestically and internationally on privacy matters in both private and public sectors, leveraging our collective expertise, capacity, and cross-regulatory perspectives.

Concurrent to these activities, and with the temporary funds received from Budget 2019, we will continue to improve our performance against service standards and reduce the overall backlog of complaints older than 12 months. As noted previously, we have made great strides in reducing the backlog of cases since 2019-20. We achieved these results in part through enhancing our processes, and adopting a new approach when institutions do not respond to personal information requests in a timely or adequate manner. Temporary funding has increased our capacity to deal with complaints, but it is not a permanent solution to enable us to appropriately deal with the full volume and complexity of compliance issues emerging on a daily basis. Our office maintains that changes to legislation allowing greater discretion to investigate complaints is required, as this would enable us to prioritize enforcement actions that pose the highest risk to Canadians and their privacy rights.

To empower Canadians to exercise their privacy rights and guide organizations to comply with their obligations, our office will continue to provide privacy information to Canadians. We will dedicate resources to provide advice to federal and private sector organizations on programs and initiatives, including COVID-19 initiatives, so that they may proactively address privacy risks. Given significant technological shifts and the need to be aware of potential impacts of new technologies on data protection, our office will expand and modernize its technological laboratory. This will allow us to maintain, gain and deploy sufficient knowledge of new technological developments. It will also allow us to provide better support for investigative activities and research development.

We will carry on with previously planned activities while taking into account the uncertainty brought by law reform in the private sector. For instance, a number of planned guidance documents related to key privacy issues will be suspended as the relevant provisions may change. For example, we will not be proceeding at this time with guidance related to de-identification. For this reason, exceptionally this year, we will not set any specific targets for the indicators that measure our progress in issuing information and guidance.

Finally, providing advice to parliamentarians will undoubtedly be a key activity for our office in the coming year. For several years, our office has advocated for stronger privacy legislation in Canada. At the time of writing this plan, the government is taking concrete steps to reform both federal privacy laws. Regarding the private sector law, we will participate actively in the review of Bill C-11 and will seek, among other things, to identify possible amendments to better promote responsible innovation while respecting rights, including the right to privacy.

On the public sector side, the Department of Justice had engaged targeted stakeholders about modernizing the Privacy Act through a series of discussion papers. We responded to the Department’s consultation in December 2019. More recently, the government launched public consultations asking Canadians to share their views, a process which was set to close in January 2021. At the time of preparing this report, we were preparing a submission. Our office will continue to follow developments on the Privacy Act reform in the coming year, and be ready to provide our advice to parliament when the time comes.

Planned results for the Protection of Privacy Rights

Our office redefined its desired outcomes and performance indicators as part of the development of our DRF. This framework, outlined below, took effect on April 1, 2018, and includes a number of new indicators for which results for years prior to 2018-19 are not available. In those instances, actual results have been marked as “n/a”.

Planned results for the Protection of Privacy Rights

Departmental results	Departmental result indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2017-18 actual results	2018-19 actual results	2019-20 actual results
Privacy rights are respected and obligations are met.	Percentage of Canadians who feel that businesses respect their privacy rights.	90%	March 31, 2023	n/a	38%Footnote 1	Not a survey year
	Percentage of Canadians who feel that the federal government respects their privacy rights.	90%	March 31, 2023	n/a	55%Footnote 2	Not a survey year
	Percentage of complaints responded to within service standards.	75%	March 31, 2022	54%	50%	61%
	Percentage of formal OPC recommendations implemented by departments and organizations.	85%	March 31, 2022	n/a	96%	80%
Canadians are empowered to exercise their privacy rights.	Percentage of Canadians who feel they know about their privacy rights.	70%	March 31, 2023	Not a survey year	64%	Not a survey year
	Percentage of key privacy issues that are the subject of information to Canadians on how to exercise their privacy rights.	No target set for 2021-22	No target set for 2021-22	n/a	17% (5/30 specified pieces of guidance done)	27% (8/30 specified pieces of guidance done)
	Percentage of Canadians who read OPC information and find it useful.	70%	March 31, 2022	n/a	72%	71%
Parliamentarians, and public and private sector organizations are informed and guided to protect Canadians’ privacy rights.	Percentage of OPC recommendations on privacy-relevant bills and studies that have been adopted.	60%	March 31, 2022	n/a	35% (33 recs made, 11 adopted)	68% (28 recs made, 19 adopted)
	Percentage of private sector organizations that have good or excellent knowledge of their privacy obligations.	85%	March 31, 2022	82%	Not a survey year	85%
	Percentage of key privacy issues that are the subject of guidance to organizations on how to comply with their privacy responsibilities.	No target set for 2021-22	No target set for 2021-22	n/a	17% (5/30 specified pieces of guidance done)	27% (8/30 specified pieces of guidance done)
	Percentage of federal and private sector organizations that find OPC’s advice and guidance to be useful in reaching compliance.	70%	March 31, 2022	n/a	73%	71%

Financial, human resources and performance information for the OPC’s program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Planned budgetary financial resources for Protection of Privacy Rights

Planned budgetary financial resources for Protection of Privacy Rights (dollars)

2021-22 Budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2021-22 planned spending	2022-23 planned spending	2023-24 planned spending
22,261,717	22,261,717	21,410,705	21,410,705

Financial, human resources and performance information for the OPC’s program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Planned human resources for Protection of Privacy Rights

Planned resources for Human Resources

2021-22 planned full-time equivalents	2022-23 planned full-time equivalents	2023-24 planned full-time equivalents
158	153	153

The decrease in full-time equivalent (FTE) in 2022-23 and future years is mainly due to the sunset funding received in Budget 2019 to reduce the backlog of privacy complaints older than one year.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the OPC’s program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Internal Services: planned results

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of Programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct services that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. These services are:

• Management and Oversight Services
• Communications Services
• Legal Services
• Human Resources Management Services
• Financial Management Services
• Information Management Services
• Information Technology Services
• Real Property Management Services
• Materiel Management Services
• Acquisition Management Services

At the OPC, communications services are an integral part of our education and outreach mandate. As such, these services are included in the promotion program. Similarly, the OPC’s legal services are an integral part of the delivery of compliance activities and are therefore included in the compliance program.

Planning highlights

The OPC will continue to work toward maintaining a standard of organizational excellence while supporting employees through key transitions. Priorities for the coming year include:

• Continue to support employees in a remote work environment by providing the necessary support and equipment, updating the on-boarding process for new employees and ensuring the health and safety of all employees through sound COVID-19 management and return-to-work guidelines.
• Sustain timely internal communications efforts to support OPC employees throughout this transition year.
• Provide support to the organization as it prepares for the implementation of new mandate obligations.
• Implement the second year of our strategic human resources plan to ensure that our current and future workforce has the necessary skills and competencies to cope with a competitive, rapidly evolving and agile environment and evolving mandate.
• Pursue digital transformation efforts by modernizing infrastructure and tools to optimize the work environment and promote employee mobility. Adopting cloud solutions will, for example, make information technologies more agile in responding to employees' needs and will also improve information management practices.
• Continue to maintain collaboration and business partnerships with other small and medium-sized organizations and agents of Parliament to gain effectiveness, share tools and resources, and implement best practices in areas such as information technology, administrative services, finance, people management and human resources programs.

Planned budgetary financial resources for Internal Services

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2021-22 Budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2021-22 planned spending	2022-23 planned spending	2023-24 planned spending
7,971,869	7,971,869	7,652,300	7,652,300

Planned human resources for Internal Services

Planned human resources for Internal Services (Full-time equivalents)

2021-22 planned full-time equivalents	2022-23 planned full-time equivalents	2023-24 planned full-time equivalents
54	54	54

Spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department’s planned spending and human resources for the next three consecutive fiscal years and compares planned spending for the upcoming year with the current and previous years’ actual spending.

Planned spending

Departmental spending 2018-19 to 2023-24

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory) spending over time.

Departmental spending graph

* Amounts are net of Vote Netted Revenue authority (VNR) of $200,000 for internal support services to other government organizations, pursuant to section 29.2 of the Financial Administration Act.

Text version of Figure 1

Figure 1: Departmental spending graph (in dollars)

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Statutory	2,299,118	2,599,274	3,096,536	3,171,235	3,084,783	3,084,783
Voted	22,987,956	25,947,986	28,744,560	27,062,351	25,978,222	25,978,222
Total *	25,287,074	28,547,260	31,841,096	30,233,586	29,063,005	29,063,005
* Amounts are net of Vote Netted Revenue authority (VNR) of $200,000 for internal support services to other government organizations, pursuant to section 29.2 of the Financial Administration Act.

The graph above illustrates the OPC’s spending trend over a 6-year period from 2018-19 to 2023-24.

Statutory spending covers annual costs for employee benefits. Such costs may vary from year to year and are dictated by TBS on the basis of calculated expenses and forecasts.

Fiscal years 2018-19 and 2019-20 reflect the organization’s actual expenditures, as reported in the public accounts. Fiscal years 2020-21 to 2023-24 represent planned spending.

Budgetary planning summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services

The following table shows actual, forecast and planned spending for the OPC’s core responsibility and to Internal Services for the years relevant to the current planning year.

Budgetary planning summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars)

Core responsibility and Internal Services	2018-19 expenditures	2019-20 expenditures	2020-21 forecast spending	2021-22 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2021-22 planned spending	2022-23 planned spending	2023-24 planned spending
Protection of privacy rights	18,504,642	20,573,425	23,430,377	22,261,717	22,261,717	21,410,705	21,410,705
Subtotal	18,504,642	20,573,425	23,430,377	22,261,717	22,261,717	21,410,705	21,410,705
Internal Services	6,782,432	7,973,835	8,410,719	7,971,869	7,971,869	7,652,300	7,652,300
Total	25,287,074	28,547,260	31,841,096	30,233,586	30,233,586	29,063,005	29,063,005

Analysis of the spending trend

For fiscal year 2018-19 and 2019-20, actual spending represents the actual expenditures as reported in the Public Accounts of Canada. The increase in expenditures between 2018-19 and 2019-20 is mainly due to funding received in Budget 2019 to allow us to better protect the privacy of Canadians as well as compensation related to new collective bargaining and adjustments to employee benefits plans.

Forecasted spending for fiscal year 2020-21 and budgetary spending for fiscal year 2021-22 corresponds to the planned spending of the office. The forecasted spending for 2020-21 includes funding received from the collective bargaining agreements, the inclusion of the operating carry-forward from 2019-20 to 2020-21 and a re-profiling of Budget 2019 funding.

The planned spending for 2021-22 includes funding received from collective bargaining agreements and a re-profiling of Budget 2019 funding. The office’s planned spending in 2022-23 and 2023-24 will decrease due to the sunset funding received in Budget 2019 to reduce the backlog of privacy complaints older than one year, and give Canadians more timely resolution of their complaints.

Planned human resources

The following table shows actual, forecast and planned full-time equivalents (FTEs) for each core responsibility in the OPC’s departmental results framework and to Internal Services for the years relevant to the current planning year.

Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and Internal Services

Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and Internal Services

Core Responsibilities and Internal Services	2018-19 actual full-time equivalents	2019-20 actual full-time equivalents	2020-21 forecast full-time equivalents	2021-22 planned full-time equivalents	2022-23 planned full-time equivalents	2023-24 planned full-time equivalents
Protection of privacy rights	123	142	159	158	153	153
Subtotal	123	142	159	158	153	153
Internal Services	50	51	54	54	54	54
Total	173	193	213	212	207	207

Starting fiscal year 2019-20, the OPC’s human resources levels are increasing due to the additional funding related to the implementation of Budget 2019 measure. The decrease in FTE in 2022-23 and future years is due to the sunset funding received in Budget 2019 to reduce the backlog of privacy complaints older than one year.

Estimates by vote

Information on the OPC’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2021-22 Main Estimates.

Condensed future-oriented statement of operations

The condensed future-oriented statement of operations provides an overview of the OPC’s operations for 2020-21 to 2021-22.

The amounts for forecast and planned results in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The amounts for forecast and planned spending presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future-oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations to the requested authorities, are available on the OPC’s website.

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2022 (dollars)

Financial information	2020-21 forecast results	2021-22 planned results	Difference (2021-22 planned results minus 2020-21 forecast results)
Total expenses	35,536,708	34,927,953	608,756
Total revenues	226,632	179,000	-47,632
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	35,310,076	34,748,953	561,124

The net cost of operations before government funding and transfers for the 2021-22 planned results is expected to decrease by $561,124 when compared to the net cost of operations before government funding and transfers for the 2020-21 forecast results.

This decrease is mainly explained by the inclusion of the operating budget carry-forward and funding received to offset the cost of collective agreements in the forecast results of 2020-21. Total revenues include a recovery from another organization for costs associated with the provision of internal services.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister(s)^{Footnote 3}: David Lametti

Institutional head: Daniel Therrien

Ministerial portfolio^{Footnote 4}: Department of Justice Canada

Enabling instrument(s): Privacy Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-21; Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c.5

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1982

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on the OPC’s website.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on the OPC’s website.

Reporting framework

The OPC’s approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2021-22 are as follows:

Core Responsibility: Protection of Privacy Rights

Departmental Results Framework	Departmental Result: Privacy rights are respected and obligations are met	Indicator: Percentage of Canadians who feel that businesses respect their privacy rights Indicator: Percentage of Canadians who feel that the federal government respects their privacy rights Indicator: Percentage of complaints responded to within service standards Indicator: Percentage of formal OPC recommendations implemented by departments and organizations	Internal Services
	Departmental Result: Canadians are empowered to exercise their privacy rights	Indicator: Percentage of Canadians who feel they know about their privacy rights Indicator: Percentage of key privacy issues that are the subject of information to Canadians on how to exercise their privacy rights Indicator: Percentage of Canadians who read OPC information and find it useful
	Departmental Result: Parliamentarians, and federal and private-sector organisations are informed and guided to protect Canadians’ privacy rights	Indicator: Percentage of OPC recommendations on privacy-relevant bills and studies that have been adopted Indicator: Percentage of private sector organizations that have a good or excellent knowledge of their privacy obligations Indicator: Percentage of key privacy issues that are the subject of guidance to organizations on how to comply with their privacy responsibilities Indicator: Percentage of federal and private sector organizations that find OPC’s advice and guidance to be useful in reaching compliance
Program Inventory	Compliance Program Promotion Program

To fulfill our core responsibility, our work falls into 1 of 2 program areas – compliance or promotion. Activities related to addressing existing compliance issues fall under the compliance program, while activities aimed at bringing departments and organizations towards compliance with the law fall under the promotion program. Some activities in our previous compliance program were of a preventative nature. These include the review of privacy impact assessments and responses to information requests from Canadians. These activities have been moved from our compliance program to our new consolidated promotion program.

Supporting information on the Program Inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to the OPC’s Program Inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on the OPC’s website

• Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
• Details on transfer payment programs
• Gender-based analysis plus

Federal tax expenditures

OPC’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures that relate to its planned results for 2020–21.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance, and the Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government-wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis. The tax measures presented in this report are solely the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Mailing address
30 Victoria Street, 1^st Floor
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 1H3
Canada

Telephone: 819-994-5444
Toll Free: 1-800-282-1376
Fax: 819-994-5424
TTY: 819-994-6591
OPC Website: www.priv.gc.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3-year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité ministérielle)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Departmental priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare, the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works and what doesn’t. Experimentation is related to, but distinct form innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. Full-time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])

An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2021–22 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2020 Speech from the Throne, namely: Protecting Canadians from COVID-19; Helping Canadians through the pandemic; Building back better – a resiliency agenda for the middle class; The Canada we’re fighting for.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all of the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

strategic outcome (résultat stratégique))

A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization’s mandate, vision and core functions.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.