The committee studied the comprehensive expenditure review (CER) and its impact on several federal organizations. Appearing were Philippe Blanchette from FINTRAC, Jonathan Moor from the Department of National Defence (DND), William Kendall and Greg Reade from the Department of Finance, Scott Davis from Shared Services Canada (SSC), and Michael Hammond and Kiran Hanspal from Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC).
Philippe Blanchette stated that FINTRAC achieved its $6 million in ongoing CER savings by cutting corporate and enabling-function expenses, not by reducing operational programs, financial intelligence, or supervisory functions, which are 60% cost-recovered. He noted that FINTRAC has received $175 million in government investments over six years and will use new cost-recovery funding to strengthen supervision in high-risk sectors. He disagreed with a member’s claim that CER documents showed cuts to financial intelligence, reiterating that no program or FTE reductions occurred in that area.
Jonathan Moor reported that DND must save $460 million annually through the CER, achieved by retiring aging fleets, divesting surplus properties, expanding energy performance contracts, and modernizing internal processes, with no job losses anticipated as affected personnel will be repositioned. He noted that the Canadian Coast Guard’s CER proposals are not yet finalized and that DND’s budget grew by $12.3 billion last year. He declined to answer detailed questions about veterans’ services, saying those are under Veterans Affairs.
William Kendall explained that many anti-financial-crime measures from Bill C-2 were passed in Bill C-12, strengthening supervision and compliance, and that remaining measures may be reintroduced in future legislation. Greg Reade noted that the Department of Finance is small and has merged two branches under one ADM to find synergies, and that the anti-fraud strategy consultation is concluding, with next steps focused on implementation and working with Treasury Board.
Scott Davis said SSC will achieve $318.5 million in ongoing annual savings by standardizing platforms, eliminating non-essential landlines, consolidating contracts and cloud environments, and reducing legacy data centres, while noting that SSC’s base funding is lower than in 2016–17. He confirmed that 86% of federal data is in SSC-managed data centres and 14% with cloud providers, all stored in Canada, and that SSC is working with Canadian vendors on AI tools like CANChat.
Michael Hammond stated that PSPC plans reductions of $190.8 million by 2028–29 and a reduction of 1,793 FTEs through attrition, voluntary departures, and the early retirement incentive program, with most cuts in the National Capital Region and minimal regional impact. He said the Canadian General Standards Board has wound down, and PSPC is using AI chatbots and self-service tools to improve efficiency, while protecting critical services like pay processing. He disagreed with a member’s suggestion that cuts would harm service, arguing that new technology and process changes will improve delivery.
The committee briefly suspended to discuss a motion from Kelly Block to study the buy Canadian policy for at least three meetings, with PSPC officials and the minister to appear. The motion was not voted on during the meeting.
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