Benefits of Relocating Federal Departments, Agencies and Crown Corporations to the Regions of Canada
February 2, 2005
Honourable Senators…
For a long time now, Prime Minister Paul Martin has made it clear that he has no difficulty dealing with provinces and regions as separate entities.
The latest and most dramatic expression of that policy direction was the decision to allow a side-deal for Quebec following the recent health care summit.
Many thoughtful Canadians, including members of this chamber, argue that such an approach weakens the role of the federal government…but there is an element to this policy that could offer enormous benefits in the public perception of the federal government and the role it plays in every region of the country.
For too long now, bureaucratic power has been tightly centralized in the hands of a small group of institutions concentrated in the national capital region.
I believe that now is the time for the Government of Canada to separate policy from process…that it is time to decentralize federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations, away from the National Capital area, to the regions of Canada.
The reluctance to pursue decentralization was compounded during the period of federal fiscal constraint that started in February of 1995. That year, the federal budget announced government wide plans to eliminate programs and decrease the size of the government workforce.
According to the Treasury Board website, provinces like Manitoba and British Columbia lost thousands of federal public service jobs while employment in the National Capital Region remained constant. At the highest executive levels of the public service (Ex 1 to Ex 5), the Ottawa area has continued to hold 70% of positions from 1994 to 2003.
To my mind, these facts point out a problem in the way the federal government is administered.
The potential benefits of relocating government departments are enormous…
The initial, up-front costs would be recouped many times over, in many different ways…
The region receiving the relocated institutions would secure well paying, permanent positions…
In turn, such moves would reduce the need for other forms of regional development…
At the same time, the affected departments or agencies would reduce staff turnover, and save recruitment and training costs…
And perhaps just as important as any other factor, the Government of Canada would gain a permanent and strong presence in the affected region…helping to reduce the stresses of regional alienation…
Relocation should be done, not only as an economic development tool, but because it is a logical move that better reflects the challenges of a geographically vast and diverse nation…
For example, the National Energy Board was relocated to Calgary many years ago and is now closer to energy production. Why then, is the Export Development Corporation currently located in Ottawa? It could be situated in Vancouver; after all, Canada does more than 20 billion dollars of trade with the state of California alone…
Does it make sense for the employees of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to locate themselves in downtown Ottawa, where they cannot see a harbour or a fishing boat? Or does it make more sense for them to be located on one of Canada’s coasts, where they can see the impact of their decisions on fishing communities and their residents more directly?
Some will say that it is too difficult to embark on a real program of decentralization…this argument, however, is based on the assumption that important work can only be done in Ottawa.
Such a notion is dispelled by new communication technologies… including videoconferencing, that allow far greater flexibility to all organizations.
The government can look abroad for examples of decentralization…
British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced in his spring budget of 2004 the relocation of 20, 000 public servants from London to the regions of the United Kingdom…
And in 2003, the Norwegian government announced plans to move eight state regulatory agencies outside of its capital…
Relocation is possible…all that is needed is political will…
In the past, there have been moves in this direction…In 1976, Jean Chrétien, then President of the Federal Treasury Board and Dan MacDonald, then Minister of Veterans Affairs…announced the relocation of the national headquarters of the Federal Department of Veterans Affairs to my home community of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
The plan met great opposition, however, including a former mayor of Ottawa… who called the relocation, a “mindless action”…
But twenty eight years later, the benefits for Prince Edward Island are obvious…and highly valued…
I have mentioned before the economic benefits of relocating the headquarters of Veterans Affairs to Charlottetown and I will highlight them once again…
They include: 1200 full time jobs; a 68 million dollar yearly payroll; many student jobs during the summer; and a career path for future generations who want to stay in the region…
Beyond the economic contribution, the presence of Veterans Affairs has also made a significant contribution socially…
The presence of Veterans Affairs has broadened Prince Edward Island society to include a vast array of highly trained professional public servants who contribute their every working day to public affairs and to Prince Edward Island society.
At a completely different level, one of the most exciting impacts of Veterans Affairs headquarters being in Charlottetown has been the remarkable increase in the use of the French language…
Prince Edward Island has always had a thriving Acadian community, but the addition of Veterans Affairs deepened the role of the French language…
According to Statistics Canada, after Quebec and New Brunswick, Prince Edward Islanders are third, among the provinces in their knowledge of the two official languages…
There is no doubt that the strength of the Acadian community assisted in that regard, but, to my mind, the greatest single contribution, to the growth in the French language, is the presence of Veterans Affairs…
Sadly…and in spite of all the benefits…the intense controversy surrounding the relocation of Veterans Affairs many years ago… forced the national centralization program to be quietly dropped…
And as I mentioned, when the dust cleared, Veterans Affairs was, and remains today, the only federal department with its national headquarters located outside of Ottawa…
But there is indication that this could change… There has been a proposal to relocate the Canadian Tourism Commission, an agency of less than 100 employees, from Ottawa to Vancouver.
At the same time…recent announcements made by the Minister of Public Works, Scott Brison could hold great potential for decentralization. Minister Brison unveiled the proposal of selling government building to the private sector to save operational costs. This move would further ease the relocation of departments and agencies to the regions of Canada. Brison himself alluded to this possibility saying that the release of ownership would help create opportunities for places like Halifax or Moncton.
These proposals should only be the start to a greater decentralization program.
In closing, Honourable Senators… in addition to the National Headquarters of Veterans Affairs, I would like to also acknowledge the G.S.T. centre located in Summerside, courtesy of the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney.
I believe it is now time for Prime Minister Paul Martin to restart the decentralization process, and give the other regions of Canada the same opportunities, and benefits, enjoyed by Prince Edward Island over the past twenty eight years.
Thank you.
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