Report on Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences

As required by the Treasury Board Directive for the Management of Expenditures on Travel, Hospitality and Conferences, this report provides information on the total annual expenditures for each of travel, hospitality and conferences for the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. 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 conferences incurred by federal departments and agencies are for the most part directly related to supporting departmental mandate(s) and the government’s priorities.

To fulfill his mandate, the Commissioner of Official Languages, with the support of the Office of the Commissioner, oversees the full implementation of the Official Languages Act, protects the language rights of Canadians, and promotes linguistic duality and bilingualism in Canada.

The Office of the Commissioner strives to accomplish this mandate through activities that raise awareness among federal institutions and other organizations subject to the Official Languages Act so that linguistic duality is an important element of leadership. These activities also aim to promote to Canada’s two official language communities the value of linguistic duality as one of the key elements of Canadian identity, and support official language minority communities in order to enhance their development and vitality.

Total annual expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages are summarized below:

(in thousands of dollars)

Expenditure Category	Expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2012 (a)	Expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2011 (b)	Variance (a - b)
Travel – Public Servants	375	405	(30)
Travel – Non-Public Servants	32	10	22
International Travel by Minister and Minister's Staff	n/a	n/a	n/a
Total Travel	407	415	(8)
Hospitality	44	50	(6)
Conference Fees	5	5	0
Total	456	470	(14)

Significant variances compared to the previous fiscal year

• Travel:
  1. Public Servants: Compared to fiscal year 2010–2011, the Office of the Commissioner’s travel expenditures by public servants decreased mainly due to:
     • An effort was made to reduce costs by promoting, for example, the use of teleconferencing and videoconferencing;
     • The Commissioner adopted the practice of flying economy class at all times, even on international trips, achieving good value for money.
  2. Non-Public Servants: Compared to fiscal year 2010–2011, the Office of the Commissioner’s travel expenditures by non-public servants increased because, in November 2011, the Office of the Commissioner held a discussion forum on the relationship between linguistic duality and cultural diversity. Participants from outside the Office of the Commissioner were invited so that the organization could gain a better understanding of the relationship between cultural diversity and linguistic duality through active research.
• Hospitality: Compared to fiscal year 2010–2011, the Office of the Commissioner’s hospitality expenditures decreased mainly due to an effort to reduce the cost of hospitality activities throughout the Office of the Commissioner.
• Conference Fees: Compared to fiscal year 2010–2011, the Office of the Commissioner’s conference fees expenditures remained stable.