Disclosure of Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences 2014

As required by the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on the annual expenditures for each of travel, hospitality and conference fees for Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014. It also provides the variance explanations from the previous fiscal year in each of these areas.

This information is updated annually and does not contain information withheld under the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act.

Expenditures on travel, hospitality and conference fees incurred by federal departments and agencies are related to activities supporting a departmental or agency mandate and the government's priorities.

In particular, PWGSC is a common service organization providing government departments, boards and agencies with support services for their programs that includes:

  • Procurement;
  • Office accommodation and facilities;
  • Architectural and engineering services;
  • Construction, maintenance and repair of public works and federal real property;
  • Pay and pension services;
  • Receiver General, treasury of Canada and accounts administration;
  • Linguistic services;
  • Industrial security screening; and
  • Specialized programs, government-wide applications and greening of government operations.
Table Summary

This table shows variances with the previous year's annual expenditures for each expenditure category

Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences of
Public Works and Government Services Canada
(in thousands of dollars)
Expenditure Category Expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2014
($000)		 Expenditures for the previous year ending March 31, 2013
($000)		 Change
($000)
Travel – Public Servants
 $11,236 $15,763 -$4,526
Travel – Non-Public Servants
 $1,210 $1,458 -$249
Total Travel
 $12,446 $17,221 -$4,775
Hospitality
 $119 $130 -$11
Conference Fees
 $135 $264 -$128
TOTAL
 $12,701 $17,615 -$4,914
International Travel by Minister and Minister's Staff (also included in Non-Public Servant travel)
 $16 $0 $16

Significant Variances Compared With the Previous Fiscal Year

This section provides a brief explanation of significant variances from the previous year's annual expenditures for each category.

TRAVEL:

Public Servants: Compared to fiscal year 2012-13, departmental travel expenditures by public servants decreased mainly due to:

  • Continued departmental efforts to reduce travel, hospitality and conference expenditures, such as: the use of teleconferencing and videoconferencing throughout the Department; establishment of annual expenditure ceilings; and close monitoring of monthly travel, hospitality and conference expenditures by the departmental management committee.

  • Decline in travel for linguistic interpretation services because of a reduction in the number of meetings, conferences and events across the government.

  • Reduction in non-essential travel.

Non-Public Servants: Compared to fiscal year 2012-13, departmental travel expenditures by non-public servants decreased mainly due to:

  • Continued departmental efforts to reduce travel, hospitality and conference expenditures, such as: the use of teleconferencing and videoconferencing throughout the Department; establishment of annual expenditure ceilings; and close monitoring of monthly travel, hospitality and conference expenditures by the departmental management committee.

Hospitality: Compared to fiscal year 2012-13, there was no significant variance in departmental hospitality expenditures.

Conference Fees: Compared to fiscal year 2012-13, departmental conference fees expenditures decreased mainly due to:

  • More stringent approval process.
  • Reduced number of employees participating in these events.

Minister and Minister's Staff: Compared to fiscal year 2012-13, departmental international travel expenditures by the minister and her staff increased mainly due to:

  • In 2013-2014, the Minister, accompanied by her Chief of Staff, attended the Government of Canada meetings at Le Bourget International Aeronautics Show in Paris, France. The Minister did not attend this annual air show in 2012-2013.