WxT Language switcher

Backgrounder: Appearance before the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance

2024-25 Main Estimates Funding

  • The OIC’s Main Estimates for 2024-2025 increased by $1,132,052 due to additional funding received for the impact of collective agreements signed in 2023-2024.
  • The OIC currently operates with a $15.3M budget:
    • $13.2M in Personnel
    • $2.1M in O&M
  • The OIC is currently funded for 129 FTEs:
    • 99 FTEs dedicated to government transparency (i.e., employees working in the Investigations program).
    • 30 FTEs dedicated to supporting program delivery (internal services).

2024-2025 Shortfall

  • Despite a funding increase, the OIC is expecting a funding shortfall of $463,000 in 2024-2025 between the funding received and the actual costs of the salary increases.
  • The funding issue is caused by the methodology used by TBS to allocate the funding to OIC for two new collective agreements.
  • The first gap in funding is for the Program and Administrative Services Group.
    • Following a sustained increase in complaints as well as new responsibilities resulting from the amendments made in 2019 to the Access to Information Act, in December 2020, the OIC received permanent funding for 27 additional FTEs.
    • Upon reviewing the recent funding allocation for the new PA collective agreement, the OIC discovered that TBS had omitted the FTEs added in 2020 from their calculations, resulting in a critical funding gap for the OIC.
    • This omission occurred because TBS used a snapshot of positions filled as of March 2021 for their calculations. As the OIC had only received the permanent funding in December 2020, the OIC has not yet filled the 27 positions by March 2021. These additional FTEs were hired during the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
    • This has resulted in a critical funding gap, impacting 21% of OIC’s FTEs, and causing a shortfall of $370,000 for the 2024-2025 fiscal year and ongoing.
  • A discrepancy was also identified in the information provided by TBS related to the recently renewed collective agreement for legal counsel (LP).
    • TBS is providing funding for 6 LPs. Due to the amendments to the Act that significantly increased the workload of the Legal Services team, the OIC currently has 8 LPs.
    • The salary increases and retroactive payments for these 2 lawyers will result in an additional shortfall of $91,000 for 2024-2025 and $52,000 ongoing.

2024-2025 Off Cycle Proposal

  • In June 2024, the OIC submitted an Off Cycle Proposal to the Minister of Justice requesting $465,000 in permanent funding for 2024-2025 and $425,000 ongoing to maintain existing staffing levels and operational capacity.
  • This funding would ensure the OIC can continue to provide an effective and independent first-level review of complaints related to access to information; properly safeguard the application of the Act; and help maintain the credibility of the federal access system.

Impact on Canadians

  • The funding shortfall of $465,000 equates to a 3% reduction in the OIC's budget, potentially forcing the organization to cut 5 or 6 positions.
  • If the OIC is required to eliminate 6 positions, its capacity to investigate complaints will be reduced by 545 investigations annually or 13% of the total complaints closed in 2023-2024.
  • This reduction will cause delays for Canadians seeking a timely resolution of complaints on a variety of subjects, including some directly related to the Government’s priorities, such as battling misinformation, matters important to truth and reconciliation, data on Government contracts, and measures taken to strengthen the economy.
  • As many access to information requests are related to current issues, investigations into such time-sensitive complaints must be completed expeditiously.

Steps taken to maximize efficiencies

  • The OIC has already minimized the funding and FTEs allocated to its internal services.
  • Internal services at the OIC are carried out by 23% of FTEs which compares favourably to other agents of Parliament.
  • The OIC has outsourced its procurement function to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
    • Any further resource reallocations would jeopardize the OIC’s ability to ensure sufficient governance and meet government-wide policy requirements.
  • Although the OIC has only 129 employees, the Information Commissioner, as the head of the organization, is subject to the same regulations and accountability rules as deputy ministers of organizations many times larger.
    • Meeting these requirements necessitates a certain number of internal resources.
    • Since the Commissioner is an agent of Parliament, her office is also subject to additional controls and reporting requirements, including an annual financial audit by the Office of the Auditor General.
  • Only 14% of the OIC’s budget ($2.1M) is allocated to Operations and Maintenance (O&M), leaving no flexibility to absorb reductions without impacting core functions.
    • The OIC has minimized spending on operating expenses to ensure the maximum amount can be spent on personnel.
    • For example, the OIC has reorganized its internal services team, has partnered with small institutions to share costs wherever possible, and is planning to reduce its office space by 22% in 2024-2025 to produce additional savings. Travel expenses have also been reduced to a bare minimum.
  • A significant amount of O&M costs (43%) are fixed and non-discretionary costs (e.g., accommodation, telecommunications, IT hardware).
    • Over a third of the OIC’s operating spending (36%) has been focused on replacing critical IT systems that have reached the end of their lifecycle and is required to improve cybersecurity and to safeguard the information in the custody of the OIC.
    • The remaining 21% of the OIC operating costs are for necessary expenditures directly required for the OIC to fulfil its mandate.
Date modified:
Submit a complaint