NRTEE - 2005-2006 Estimates: Part III - Report on Plans and Priorities

SECTION I - OVERVIEW - Departmental Plans and Priorities

Our planning context: Factors influencing the NRTEE's operating environment

The NRTEE's operating environment is changing dramatically, particularly with regard to the important new management initiatives and reporting requirements introduced in the last year. Management initiatives included shared services, human resources modernization and new systems for managing information, while reporting requirements included those imposed by the Expenditure Review process, the introduction of the Program Activity Architecture, and public disclosure of contracts and hospitality expenses on the website.
For the NRTEE, an agency with a small staff, the greatest challenge posed by these changes is not financial. Rather, it lies in developing the capacity to understand and to respond appropriately to new demands, often within short timelines. As well, the uncertain schedule for implementing new initiatives complicates planning and budgeting. Because these initiatives are in the early stages of implementation, the agency expects to experience continuing pressures to adapt and respond over the next few years.

Despite these obstacles, the NRTEE remains firmly focused on providing advice and responding to government-wide initiatives.

Priority 1: To provide advice to decision makers on environment and economy issues of national relevance

Description of the priority

The first priority of the NRTEE is to provide advice on issues that lie at the intersection of the environment and the economy. With its small budget of $5.1 million, the agency nevertheless delivers an ever-growing body of advice on issues of national importance -advice that decision makers in and beyond the federal government agree makes a valuable contribution to the state of our knowledge about sustainable development.

Providing advice involves two broad areas of work: producing the advice, then promoting it. Producing the advice involves conducting original research and convening stakeholders to ensure balance and credibility. Research is commissioned to analyze the environmental and economic facts and trends underlying each issue area. A broad group of stakeholders is then convened and asked for their input. This NRTEE process - which is designed to help stakeholders overcome entrenched differences in some very contentious issue areas - helps clarify areas of consensus and debate and to pinpoint the consequences of action and inaction. The work typically takes 18 to 24 months and is directed by a task force representing a range of stakeholder perspectives.

The culmination of this effort is the publication of a State of the Debate report presenting the findings, analysis and recommendations from the research and consultation process. At this point, the agency engages in the second area of work, the communication and promotion of its findings and recommendations. Once released, a report's findings are vigorously promoted through a variety of communications channels to ensure they reach targeted decision makers and opinion leaders across the country. The agency has learned that this second step is crucial to raising awareness and understanding and to influencing policy development and decision making among those who did not participate in the original work. Taken together, the production of advice and its promotion contribute directly to the agency's strategic outcome, which is to influence policy and decisions related to environment and economy issues.

Plans for 2005-2008

In 2005, the agency will conclude three of its programs with the release of State of the Debate reports. These programs are:

• Ecological Fiscal Reform and Energy - which is exploring how fiscal policy can promote the decarbonization of Canadian energy systems while maintaining options and opportunities for existing energy sources and uses;
• Capital Markets and Sustainability - which is looking at how Canada's capital markets can better support and stimulate environmentally and socially responsible activities; and
• Conserving Canada's Natural Capital: The Boreal Forest -which is studying how regulatory and fiscal reforms can enhance natural capital while maintaining economic activities in Canada's boreal forest.

A fourth program, the Energy and Climate Change Initiative, is scheduled to report in March 2006. In anticipation of these completions, the agency is identifying new issues and expects to launch three new programs in 2005 and a fourth in early 2006. These new programs will be the agency's main focus through 2006, with completion expected in 2007. The cycle of identifying new issues, producing advice and promoting advice is ongoing (see the chart below illustrating this cycle). Further details of these efforts are provided in Section II of this document.

Performance indicators for this priority

The agency will have succeeded in providing advice when decision makers report that the NRTEE has given them a new way of viewing issues and raised their awareness and understanding of the issues. These indicators are regularly monitored through surveys of participants in NRTEE processes and through annual evaluation efforts that focus on interviews with senior government and industry representatives.

Timelines for issue identification and for producing, reporting and promoting advice (click to enlarge)

Priority 2: To strengthen management accountability and systems and implement new federal initiatives

Description of the priority

The NRTEE's second priority is to strengthen management accountability and systems and to implement new federal initiatives. Even with limited staff and a small budget, the agency takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that the stewardship of its financial and human resources is effective and aligned with government-wide initiatives. To this end, the agency has identified four major areas that will be the focus over this planning period: implementation of the Public Service Modernization Act, shared services and systems, management of government information, and implementation of a content management system for the agency's website. Due to the size and organizational structure of the NRTEE, the planned costs related to these individual initiatives are relatively small and primarily relate to employee salary costs required to investigate, monitor and implement the initiatives within the agency.

Plans for 2005-2008

Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA): The NRTEE is named in Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act and is a separate employer. Accordingly, the implementation of the PSMA within the NRTEE centres on the new Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA). The agency has been monitoring and investigating its responsibilities under the PSLRA by participating in information sessions presented by the Public Service Human Resources Agency of Canada. The agency expects to comply with the requirements of this legislation during 2005, in advance of its coming into force.

Shared Services and Systems: In response to this initiative, the NRTEE has been monitoring the information provided by the Treasury Board regarding the proposal for implementing shared administrative services and systems. To comply with the requirements communicated to date, the NRTEE will implement changes to its departmental financial management system in April 2005. As shared administrative services and systems are expected to remain a government-wide priority throughout the 2005-2008 planning period, and as the details of the implementation process are not yet finalized, the NRTEE will continue to monitor the direction provided by the Treasury Board and to take actions to successfully align the delivery of agency administrative services with this initiative.

Management of Government Information: In response to this Treasury Board policy, the NRTEE initiated a major initiative in March 2003 to develop policies, procedures and electronic systems for managing records and information in all media. This program includes a complete catalogue of all information resources as part of the new on-line integrated library system. A new NRTEE Information Management Policy will be put in place in 2005, which will include retention levels for all operational records in accordance with the National Archives' Multi-Institutional Disposition Authority.

Government of Canada Content Management Solution (CMS): In September 2004, the NRTEE undertook a pilot project to examine and support a centrally hosted Government of Canada CMS, through a memorandum of agreement with Public Works and Government Services Canada and nine other departments and agencies. The pilot provides an opportunity to leverage the CMS strategy, lessons learned, stakeholder engagement strategies, common standards and licence model into a government-wide solution for integrated government information and service delivery. It also offers an opportunity to begin dialogue on common standards and approaches in content and information management across the government enterprise.

Performance indicators for this priority

The NRTEE will be successful in each of these endeavours when it is compliant with government requirements.

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