Quarterly Financial Report For the Quarter Ended December 31, 2020

Mandate and programs

The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (OCOL) supports the Commissioner of Official Languages in fulfilling his mandate, which consists of taking all actions and measures within his authority to ensure recognition of the status of each of the official languages and compliance with the spirit and intent of the Official Languages Act in the administration of the affairs of federal institutions, including any of their activities relating to the advancement of English and French in Canadian society.

Further information about OCOL’s programs can be found in the 2020-2021 Departmental Plan and in the Main Estimates.

Basis of presentation

This quarterly report has been prepared by management using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities includes OCOL’s spending authorities granted by Parliament and used by OCOL, consistent with the Main Estimates for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. This quarterly report has also been prepared using a special purpose financial reporting framework designed to meet financial information needs with respect to the use of spending authorities.

The authority of Parliament is required before money can be spent by the Government. Approvals are given in the form of annually approved limits through appropriation acts or through legislation in the form of statutory spending authority for specific purposes.

OCOL uses the full accrual method of accounting to prepare and present its annual financial statements, which are part of the organization's results reporting process. However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament are prepared on an expenditure basis.

Statement of Authorities

At the third quarter, the Statement of Authorities below shows an increase of $1.3 million or 5.8% over the previous year in the authorities available for use which is mainly due to salary increases negotiated by Treasury Board. This also includes an increase of the budgetary statutory authorities related to the employee benefit plan.

This statement also indicates that OCOL spent $14.7 million of its available authorities for the current fiscal year 2020-21, of which 88.6% ($12.9 million) relates to personnel expenditures.

Statement of Department Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object

As per the Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object, the OCOL’s total year to date budgetary expenditures decreased by an amount of 0.5 million or 3.1% as per December 31, 2020 when compared to the expenditures reported at the same period in 2019-20. This decrease is mainly explained by:

• an increase of $246,000 in personnel costs mainly due to pay increases following the signature of new collective agreements;
• an increase of $125,000 in professional services, mainly in counseling services;
• a decrease of $309,000 in transportation, communication and information costs related to cancellation and postponement of travel and events as a result of COVID-19 pandemic;
• a decrease of $122,000 in repair and maintenance, materiel acquisition and supplies, major purchases having been made in 2019-20; and
• a decrease of $423,000 in machinery and equipment costs, major purchases for the renewal of computer equipment having been made in 2019-20.

Capacity to meet strategic and operational priorities

OCOL continues to implement activities to meet the priorities of its 2019-2025 strategic plan, which includes Vision 2025.

OCOL is conducting an ongoing review of its budget so that it can reallocate resources, as needed, to meet its priorities. For example, the organization has developed a strategic human resources management plan in which it has identified specific areas of intervention relating to its current and future human resources challenges.

OCOL also continue to assess the impact of changes in operational priorities, processes and objectives, particularly through the implementation of the Integrated Operational Plan and change management strategies in order to address potential changes to the organizations’ priorities stemming from the implementation of Vision 2025 and proposals from external stakeholders, including federal institutions’ implementation of the 2018-23 Action Plan for Official Languages prepared by Canadian Heritage and the modernization of the Act by the Government.

OCOL’s reputation to support its mandate

OCOL is focusing efforts on reviewing its processes to achieve cost savings, to carry out a transformation and innovation, where possible with audit advisory projects and continuous improvement projects. For example, OCOL conducted an in-depth analysis of the stages of the implementation of its investigations program in order to prepare an action plan aimed at improving performance. OCOL anticipates that this will increase its understanding of the environment and allow it to become more agile and efficient.

Furthermore, OCOL developed intervention strategies that will reach various stakeholders, such as federal institutions and official languages minority communities (OLMC), in order to better manage expectations and establish constructive relationships. Such is the case with the implementation of the Official Languages Maturity Model and the stakeholder management project.

OCOL continues also to improve communications in its activities in order to promote the Commissioner’s position on important official languages issues in the public space.

That said, given that OCOL does not have control over external factors influencing the future of its activities, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization will ensure the flexibility of the strategic planning process to adapt to organizational changes and, if required, will realign resources and/or work. The Office has reviewed the 2020-21 priorities based on the context of the pandemic and monitors their progress on a quarterly basis.