ARCHIVED - Industry Canada

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page

This page has been archived.

Minister’s Message

The past year has been a challenging one for the Canadian economy, as it has been for the economies of all industrialized countries. The global economic crisis put the fiscal and economic frameworks of all countries to the test. But Canada entered the recession with solid fundamentals — balanced budgets, decreasing debt and taxes, a strong financial sector and robust economic policies. Consequently, Canada is in a comparatively good position to effectively respond to this time of economic challenge.

The Industry Portfolio played a significant role in developing Canada’s resiliency and ability to weather the current crisis. Composed of Industry Canada and 10 other agencies, Crown corporations and quasi-judicial bodies, the Portfolio includes major instruments in the Government of Canada’s tool kit for building a competitive economy.

Industry Canada focuses on helping Canadians contribute to the knowledge economy and improving the country’s productivity and innovative capacity through three strategic outcomes:

1. a fair, efficient and competitive marketplace;
2. an innovative economy; and
3. a competitive industry and sustainable communities.

To accomplish these outcomes, the Department focuses on developing effective marketplace framework policies and making strategic investments in key sectors to broaden Canada’s innovative capacity. In 2008–09, such measures included the following:

• an auction of radio spectrum for advanced wireless services, stimulating better service and more choices for businesses and consumers and resulting in more than $4 billion in bids for licences;
• amendments to the Competition Act and the Investment Canada Act in response to the Competition Policy Review Panel’s recommendations for a competitiveness agenda;
• a streamlined Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act to eliminate unnecessary regulation and reduce red tape for not-for-profit corporations;
• strategic investments in science and technology initiatives, such as the Canada Excellence Research Chairs program and the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship program, and in major industries such as the automotive sector (through the Automotive Innovation Fund and a commitment to support long-term restructuring efforts) and the aerospace sector (through the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative); and
• continued support for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario to enable businesses and communities in the region to thrive.

In January 2009, the government introduced Canada’s Economic Action Plan, which contained stimulative measures to respond to the global recession. Industry Canada and its Portfolio members played, and will continue to play, a central role in developing and implementing a signficant number of these critical initiatives. These measures range from programs to upgrade research infrastructure at Canada’s universities and colleges, to helping small businesses bring innovative products to market, to supporting major tourism events, to enhancing community and recreational facilities and other municipal infrastructure in Ontario. For more information, visit the Canada’s Economic Action Plan website.

As a country, we are emerging from the recession by creating a climate that encourages innovation, productivity and competitiveness — helping Canadian industry move to the forefront of the global knowledge economy. Industry Canada, the Portfolio members, and other federal departments and agencies are working in partnership so that Canada continues to enjoy a high standard of living and a prosperous future.

It is my pleasure to present Industry Canada’s Departmental Performance Report for 2008–09.

Tony Clement
Minister of Industry

Section 1: Departmental Overview

1.1 Summary Information

Raison d’être

Responsibilities

The Minister of Industry is responsible for carrying out Industry Canada’s mandate and for advancing sustainable development through the Department and the Industry Portfolio. The Minister has jurisdiction over policy issues related to industry, trade and commerce; science; consumer affairs; corporations and corporate securities; competition and restraint of trade, including mergers and monopolies; bankruptcy and insolvency; intellectual property; telecommunications; investment; small businesses; and regional economic development across Canada.

The Deputy Minister and Senior Associate Deputy Minister are accountable for the stewardship of Industry Canada. They provide strategic direction and sound management to ensure that the Department contributes effectively to achieving the government’s priorities and that its wide range of activities is well coordinated and produces concrete results.

From an operational point of view, Industry Canada’s governance structure is functionally expressed through its committee structure at both the working and senior management levels, which support senior executives and ultimately the Minister. The committee structure is traditional in nature — divided between operations (Management Committee) and policy (Deputy Minister’s Policy Table). These committees provide oversight and decision-making authority in a number of areas including policy; IM/IT; and project management, procurement and contracting. They determine how allocation and reallocation decisions are made; and how programs are coordinated and managed to achieve the Department’s Strategic Outcomes communicated to Parliament.

Organizational Changes within Industry Canada

The Department’s organizational chart reflects a number of organizational changes that occurred in 2008–09 and that are outlined in further detail below. It is important to note that this year’s performance report does not reflect the revised organizational structure, but is instead based on the Department’s Program Activity Architecture (PAA) for 2008–09. Given the timing of the machinery of government changes outlined below, they were not reflected in the 2008–09 PAA and are therefore not shown in this year’s performance report.

Organizational Changes:

• Small Business and Marketplace Services and Regional Operations Sector: The previous Operations Sector was split into the Small Business and Marketplace Services Sector and Regional Operations Sector. The program activities were renamed to reflect this change for the 2008–09 PAA and repositioned in the 2009–10 PAA to reflect this change at the program activity level following a realignment of Industry Canada’s operational agenda.
• Technology Partnerships Canada: In February 2007, Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC) was replaced by the Industrial Technologies Office (ITO) within Industry Canada as the Special Operating Agency to manage both the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI) and projects previously contracted through the TPC program.
• Genome Canada: Genome Canada was originally placed under the Program Activity Industry Sector — Science and Technology and Innovation, and was transferred to the Program Activity Science and Innovation Sector — Science and Technology in August 2006. In future PAAs, and in future Parliamentary reporting documents, Genome Canada, along with its Planned Spending and other financial information, will be under the Program Activity Science and Innovation Sector — Science and Technology and Innovation.
• The Automotive Innovation Fund (AIF): The AIF was approved by the Treasury Board Secretariat on June 11, 2008. The AIF was originally placed under the Strategic Outcome Competitive Industry and Sustainable Communities. In future PAAs, and in future Parliamentary reporting documents, the AIF, along with its Planned Spending and other financial information, will be under An Innovative Economy.
• The Perimeter Institute: The grant to the Perimeter Institute was originally mistakenly placed under the Program Activity Industry Sector — Science and Technology and Innovation. In future PAAs, and in future Parliamentary reporting documents, the grant, along with its Planned Spending and other financial information, will be under Science and Innovation Sector — Science and Technology and Innovation.

Machinery of Government Changes

In 2008–09 the following machinery of government changes impacted Industry Canada:

• Mackenzie Gas Project: The Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) is a proposed 1,220-kilometre natural gas pipeline system through the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories that will connect northern onshore gas fields with North American markets. The project has the potential to make key contributions to Canada’s role as an energy superpower. The MGP was transferred from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada to Industry Canada late in 2007-08 and was subsequently transferred to Environment Canada on October 30, 2008. The PAA chart in this report does not reflect these transfers.

Strategic Outcomes

In order to effectively pursue its mandate, Industry Canada aims to achieve the following three strategic outcomes:

The many and varied activities Industry Canada carries out to deliver on its mandate are organized around three interdependent and mutually reinforcing strategic outcomes, each linked to a separate key strategy. The key strategies are shown in the illustration below:

A fair, efficient and competitive marketplace

• By advancing the marketplace, we are developing and administering economic framework policies that promote innovation and competition and instill business, investor and consumer confidence.

An innovative economy

• By fostering the knowledge-based economy, we support foundational investments in science and technology to create new knowledge and equip Canadians with the skills and training they need to compete in the global knowledge-based economy.

Competitive industry and sustainable communities

• By supporting business, we anchor and support business innovation and productivity, because businesses are the organizations that create wealth and generate jobs.

D

Industry Canada’s 2008–09 Program Activity Architecture

The chart below shows the full framework of Industry Canada’s Program Activities and Program Sub-Activities. These activities contribute to progress towards the Department’s three strategic outcomes for 2008–09.

^* Minor differences are due to rounding.

^** Internal Services spending is prorated across all program activities.

^***The variance between Planned Spending and Actual Spending relates to the increased salary costs from collective agreements and retroactive pays, as well as internal funding reallocations towards program legislative and regulatory priorities relating to spectrum / telecommunciations management.

^**** The $28-million payment is the third instalment of the $120-million conditional grant for CANARIE’s Advanced Network. The amount paid is based on CANARIE’s cash flow requirements, reported annually to the Minister before an instalment is issued.

^† The variance is a result of increased salary costs from collective agreements, recapitalization of scientific equipment, increased respendable revenues from collaborative research agreements and campus operations activities, and spectrum monitoring support for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.

^‡ No resources were reported in the RPP for the Community Access Program and the Computers for Schools program, as the program authorities were still pending at the time.

^˜ Non-Respendable Revenue and services received without charge are not included in the Main Estimates or Total Authorities of the Department. In 2008–09, Industry Canada received funding for an auction sale in the amount of $4.3 billion, which is reported in total in the DPR and Public Accounts as revenue on a cash basis. From an accrual accounting perspective, this auction is considered as deferred revenues since the economic benefit will occur over 10 years.

1.2 Summary of Performance

^* The variance between Planned Spending and Actual Spending relates to the increased salary costs from collective agreements and retroactive pays, as well as internal funding reallocations towards program legislative and regulatory priorities relating to spectrum / telecom management.

^* The variance is a result of increased salary costs from collective agreements, recapitalization of scientific equipment, increased respendable revenues from collaborative research agreements and campus operation activities, and spectrum monitoring support for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.

^* No resources were reported in the RPP for the Community Access Program and the Computers for Schools program as the program authorities were still pending at the time.

Management Priorities

Risk Analysis

Industry Canada’s capacity to achieve its strategic outcomes depends on its ability to identify, manage and mitigate department-wide risks. In 2008–09, the Department continued to make progress in this area, advanced its Integrated Risk Management Framework, and used the standard approach and principles set out in the framework to update its Corporate Risk Profile (CRP). The CRP established a clear direction for managing risks at Industry Canada and presented an assessment of the Department’s risks based on government priorities, external and internal organizational context, current management practices, and available resources. It also identified the strategic risks that need to be managed (such as people management, recruitment, development and retention) to enable Industry Canada to achieve its mandate, strategic outcomes and the expected results of its program activities.

The Department depends on its workforce to adapt its organizational structure to new and shifting priorities. As such, our renewal initiative priorities are focusing on people, retaining existing expertise and recruiting new staff with the necessary competencies. Early identification and detection of potential vacancies for specific groups and levels, e.g., research, IT and engineers, could help mitigate these risks. For those specific groups, management training courses were utilized to increase the pool of qualified candidates for succession planning. A career path was also developed for junior engineers and Computer Systems Administration (CS) functional groups.

Nationally, the performance of Canadian industry sectors has been impacted not only by the economic crisis, but also by rapidly changing technology, increased demands and trade barriers in international markets, and the convergence of network technologies and multimedia services. Some sectors have rescheduled projects, reduced production and laid off employees. Industry Canada addressed the challenges undermining the performance of Canadian industries by identifying and analyzing specific issues and developing strategic partnerships with research and development (R&D) organizations and other stakeholders to mitigate barriers to commercializing technologically intensive goods and services.

Expenditure Profile

Industry Canada’s total actual spending for 2008–09 was $1.23 billion. This represents a 9.5% decrease from 2007–08 actual spending, which was primarily due to variations in grants and contributions and other transfer payments, including a $105-million reduction related to the Seven Centres of Excellence for which funding was for one year only.

Industry Canada increased its operating budget from $403.9 million in 2007–08 to $423.5 million in 2008–09. This 4.85% increase helped the Department to deliver more benefits to Canadians and better contribute to its strategic outcomes.

Voted and Statutory Items

This table illustrates the way in which Parliament approved Industry Canada’s resources and shows the changes in resources derived from supplementary estimates and other authorities, as well as how funds were spent.

Human Resources

¹ Indicators of Product Market Regulation. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2008

² Employment by Industry. Statistics Canada, 2009

³ Measuring the Information Society: The ICT Development Index. International Telecommunications Union, 2009, p.32

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page