CCA Bulletin 18/08
June 6 , 2008
The Federal Action Plan on Grants and Contributions Unveiled
Just the Facts
On May 27, 2008, the President of the Treasury Board of Canada, the Hon. Vic Toews, outlined at the Voluntary Sector Summit in Toronto the Action Plan of the federal government to improve the management of grants and contributions.
The action plan is the government’s response to the Report of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Grants and Contributions delivered to the government on February 14, 2007. The Report reached three fundamental conclusions;
- Fundamental change is required in the way the federal government understands, designs, manages and accounts for its grants and contribution programs,
- Simplifying administration is a necessary prerequisite to strengthening accountability, and
- Making necessary changes in an area of government as vast and multi-faceted as grants and contributions will require sustained leadership by the political and public service levels.
The government’s Action Plan has three components;
1. Policy Reform
Changes are made to the Treasury Board Payments Policy which governs federal spending. These changes ensure that all grants and contributions are managed in a citizen-and-recipient focused way. The administrative and reporting requirements for applicants and recipients will be better aligned with the associated risk to funders.
2. Departmental Action Plans
Six departments of the federal government account for 51% of all grants and contributions. These departments must address seven areas of reform. They include simplification of funding programs and agreements, streamlining the application process, flexible risk-management practices, best practices, improved access to information through technology and stakeholder engagement.
The good news for the cultural sector is that the Department of Canadian Heritage is one of these six departments and its officials have developed a standard contribution agreement.
3. Horizontal Enablers
These are internal tools and activities within government to ensure that the changes are both government-wide and sustainable.
Tell Me More
The CCA commended the members of the Blue Ribbon Panel for its recommendations when the report was first released. Since then, the CCA and other pan-sector groups have been involved in discussions with federal officials about implementation plans.
The action plan announced by Minister Toews is an indication that the federal government has accepted the three fundamental conclusions of the Blue Ribbon Panel. While this is an encouraging development, the Action Plan has no firm deadlines for the implementation of the seven areas that must be addressed by the six government departments.
The engagement of stakeholders is not in clear evidence in the Action Plan, despite the insistence of the Blue Ribbon Panel that their involvement is critical to the success of the policy reforms. The CCA recognizes that this action plan is a massive undertaking which will likely take years to achieve.
The former National Co-Chairs of the Blue Ribbon Panel, Ian Clark and Frances Larkin will host the first of several regional stakeholder consultations on the federal action plan on June 26, 2008 at the University of Toronto. About fifty organizations will be invited to send a representative to this session where they will meet 25 public servants from the six departments that are viewed as central to this exercise. The CCA has already indicated its desire to participate in this meeting. Three other sessions will be held across Canada but neither dates nor locations for these meetings have yet been announced.
What Can I Do?
The CCA has encouraged the federal government to move expeditiously toward the implementation of the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Panel. The cultural sector has a direct stake in the outcome of this exercise. If you have views you feel need to be shared, please write to either the Hon. Vic Toews and copy the Heritage Minister, the Hon. Josée Verner, Ms. Judith Larocque, Deputy Minister of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
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