Report on Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences for the year ending March 31, 2018

As required by the Treasury Board Guideline on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on travel, hospitality and conferences expenditures for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, except for information withheld under the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act.

Travel, hospitality and conferences expenditures incurred by federal departments and agencies relate to activities that support the departmental or agency’s mandate and the government's priorities.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s travel, hospitality and conference expenditures support the delivery of the following core programs and services to Canadians:

• The mandate of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) is overseeing compliance with both the Privacy Act, which covers the personal information-handling practices of federal government institutions, and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canada’s federal private sector privacy law, along with some aspects of Canada’s anti-spam law (CASL).
• The mission of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) is to protect and promote the privacy rights of individuals.
• The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) major programs are:
  1. Compliance activities: the Office is responsible for investigation privacy-related complaints and responding to inquiries from individuals and organizations.
  2. Research and Policy development: the Office serves as a centre of expertise on emerging privacy issues in Canada and abroad by researching trends and technological developments, monitoring legislative and regulatory initiatives, providing legal, policy and technical analyses on key issues, and developing policy positions that advance the protection of privacy rights in both the public and private sectors.
  3. Public Outreach: the Office delivers public education and communications activities, including speaking engagements and special events, exhibiting, media relations, and the production and dissemination of promotional and educational material.
  4. Internal Services are 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.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada incurs travel, hospitality and conference expenditures for activities directly related to its mandate. Since most privacy trends are global in nature, the OPC invests considerable efforts in developing and sustaining partnerships with data-protection authorities around the world, as well as international associations and regulators. OPC officials deliver numerous speeches to transfer knowledge about privacy to audiences in Canada and abroad. The OPC carries out investigations and audit under both legislations the Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Investigation and Audit work tends to involve travel because it often necessitates site visits in order to review materials and discuss issues with respondents. OPC also incurs travel costs related to public events and other professional development activities that are critical for staff to remain current with rapid evolutions within the privacy field.

For more information on OPC’s programs please consult the Office’s 2018-19 Departmental Plan and the Office’s 2017-18 Departmental Results Report.

Travel, Hospitality and Conferences Expenditures
Year ended March 31, 2018

Expenditure Category	Expenditures for the year ending, March 31, 2018 ($ thousands)	Expenditures for the year ending, March 31, 2017 ($ thousands)	Variance ($ thousands)
Operational activities	247.6	443.3	Not applicable
Key stakeholders	57.7		Not applicable
Internal governance	14.5		Not applicable
Training	60.3		Not applicable
Other	14.3		Not applicable
A. Total Travel	394.4	443.3	(48.9)
B. Hospitality	24.2	25.2	(1.0)
C. Conference Fees	-	-	-
TOTAL	418.6	468.5	(49.9)

Variance Analysis

The Office continues to work towards actively managing its expenditures for travel, hospitality and conference.

• Travel: The Office’s travel expenditures decreased in 2017-18 when compared to the previous fiscal year due to training activities, speaking engagements and exhibiting mostly occurring within the National Capital Region.
• Hospitality: Compared to fiscal year 2016-17, there is no significant variance in the hospitality expenditures.
• Conference Fees: Compared to fiscal year 2016-17, there is no variance in conference fee expenditures.

Approval by