Speaking notes for Kelly Gillis, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

To the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Ottawa, ON
June 16, 2022

Good morning!

I'd like to begin by acknowledging that we are on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe People.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to provide you with an update on the steps we have taken in response to the findings of the Auditor General's Report on the Investing in Canada Plan.

I am joined by: Christiane Fox, Deputy Minister, Department of Indigenous Services; Romy Bowers, President and CEO, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation; Laurie Goldmann, Director of Operations, Privy Council Office; Ritu Banerjee, Executive Director, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat; and from Infrastructure Canada, Gerard Peets, Assistant Deputy Minister, and Sean Keenan, Director General, Economic Analysis and Results.

We thank the Auditor General and her staff for their examination of the government's 12-year, $188-billion Investing in Canada Plan.

Infrastructure Canada has developed and completed a comprehensive Management Action Plan in response to the Auditor General's recommendation, and I will speak to it shortly.

The Investing in Canada Plan was introduced in Budget 2016 and 2017. The Plan is a cross-government effort to deliver infrastructure projects to communities across Canada.

Infrastructure Canada has a dual role in the Investing in Canada Plan.

The first of these is the delivery of infrastructure funding. Infrastructure Canada is one of twenty-one departments and agencies responsible for administering the more than 90 programs included in the Plan.

In our second role, Infrastructure Canada acts as the central hub for reporting on plan-wide data. While each of the twenty-one departments and agencies who report into the Plan are accountable for the management of their programs, Infrastructure Canada provides rolled-up data on progress, all in one place.

As of March of this year, over $119 billion of the Plan's proposed $188 billion – nearly two thirds of the total funding – has been allocated to over 77,000 projects, with $67 billion having been paid out.

The Auditor General's report published in 2021 provided an opportunity for us to reflect on the Investing in Canada Plan. The Government of Canada accepted the Auditor General's recommendation. In response to the report, we have worked with delivery partners to strengthen reporting on the Plan's objectives, investments and results, including the implementation of a Management Action Plan.

We have adjusted our reporting processes whereby we provide interim updates on all throughout the life cycle of the Plan, rather than waiting until the Plan's end to show results.

We have also worked to improve reporting on contributions of legacy programs toward the Plan's objectives. All 24 of the Plan's legacy programs – those that existed prior to the creation of the Plan – are now reported in the Horizontal Initiative Table, which is available online.

We have also improved the Horizontal Initiative Table and made it easier to understand and more accessible and user-friendly.

Going forward, Infrastructure Canada will continue reporting on the Plan's overall results and providing an accounting of the full Plan, and partner departments will provide program specific reporting.

As a result of these improvements, we are providing Canadians with consistent, comprehensive and coherent information about how we are delivering results across the country.

We appreciate the recommendation of the Auditor General. We will continue to look for more opportunities to improve our reporting, in collaboration with our partners.

I am happy to discuss it with you and welcome your questions.

Thank you.