Québec City, March 30, 2010 – The Chair of the Conseil du trésor and Minister responsible for Government Administration, Ms. Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, today unveiled the 2010-2014 Action Plan to Reduce and Control Expenditures Public Expenditures: Responsible Choices, by which the government undertakes to make concrete efforts to reduce the annual growth of program spending further. This action plan is based on three strategic themes: equitable and responsible remuneration, a better-run government, and continuous improvement of government efficiency.
“To meet this challenge, the government is committed to a major effort to give all public agencies a new impetus for our culture of expenditure control,” the Minister explained.
In November 2009, the government deposited its salary offers to the Common Front unions. This is a just and equitable proposal, which goes as far as possible in the current financial context.
The government today announces that it is broadening this salary proposal to all public and parapublic sector employees. For the next two years, the government is also imposing a salary freeze for the Premier, the Ministers and the MNAs. The government has also decided to suspend payment of performance bonuses for the years 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. This decision applies to the senior executives of the public service and ministers’ personal staff, and administrators of the health and social services network and the education network. It also applies to the senior executives of universities, government agencies and government corporations. For government corporations with a commercial and financial vocation, special provisions are provided so that their effort is comparable to that of the rest of the public sector.
In addition to the elimination, combination or transfer of 28 funds and agencies, the government is redefining its approach to staff level control.
The payroll of the departments and budget-funded agencies will be frozen at its current level until 2013-2014. Replacement of an average of one of every two retirees will continue to apply in the departments and agencies. In addition, this measure will be extended to the administrative personnel, including managers, of the health and social services and education networks.
Several departments have already taken concrete actions to improve their performance. These initiatives are based on a systematic assessment of program delivery and administrative efficiency. Actions are thus in the implementation phase in the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, in the education network and in several other departments.
The government has also set up Infrastructure Québec, replacing the Agence des partenariats publics-privés du Québec. A new framework policy was implemented recently to improve governance of major public infrastructure projects.
The Conseil du trésor as approved a new directive, with the aim of improving governance of information resources projects, under which more than $1.1 billion in investments are made each year by government departments and agencies.
All government programs will be reviewed by 2013-2014. Ongoing review mandates will be carried out regarding the programs and their delivery modes in the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, and the business assistance and government operations sectors. In this regard, a program and organizational performance assessment tool will be developed in collaboration with the École nationale d’administration publique.
“The Action Plan to Reduce and Control Expenditures will largely contribute to restore fiscal balance by 2013-2014. Such a plan cannot be accomplished without the contribution and participation of the public administration as a whole and all my colleagues. This is the best way to ensure sustainable protection of the services we insist on maintaining,” the Minister concluded.
