Published plans and annual reports 2019-2020: Treasury Board Secretariat

Purpose

Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) was established to support the President of the Treasury Board in leading the government's efforts on accountability, transparency, modernization and sustainability. In its government-wide leadership capacity, TBS will continue to play a crucial role in delivering good government and sustainable public services in the most effective and efficient way possible. It will do this by strategically driving cultural change and embedding a focus on fiscal responsibility across the whole of government. TBS will continue to spearhead the review and analysis of all government programs and services by ensuring evidence-based decision making, effective outcomes and value for money.

TBS’s responsibilities include:

• Providing planning, expenditure management and controllership to support Treasury Board’s role in managing the government’s fiscal plan, and to ensure sound stewardship and investment of public funds.
• Providing advice and support to Treasury Board/Management Board of Cabinet.
• Overseeing labour relations and compensation in the OPS and the broader public sector.
• Managing corporate policy and agency governance including responsibilities for agency accountability, transparency and modernization.
• Providing internal audit services across the government to ensure ministries meet their business objectives while employing sound management practices.
• Overseeing enterprise-level human resources policy functions, executive recruitment, learning and development, talent management recruitment and retention.
• Ensuring information and information technology (I&IT) governance practices and processes are in place and continually improved.

TBS also:

• Supports the development of the Ontario Budget and the Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review.
• Prepares and releases Expenditure Estimates, Public Accounts of Ontario and the Public Sector Salary Disclosure compendium.
• Leads OPS diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives to build a diverse and inclusive workplace, and more responsive policies, programs and services for Ontarians.
• Supports and co-ordinates the review of all provincial agencies to ensure they are relevant, efficient and have appropriate oversight structures in place.

Ministry contribution to priority outcomes

In its enterprise-wide capacity, TBS will support the government’s commitment to responsibly balance the budget by 2023-24 – as outlined in Budget 2019 – while ensuring sustainability and protecting what matters most to Ontarians.

TBS will continue to deliver on its core mandate with a strengthened internal audit function through the Audit and Accountability Committee, ongoing program and agency reviews to find efficiencies and improve outcomes and prudent leadership in labour relations with its Ontario Public Service and broader public‐sector partners.

To improve outcomes and ensure fiscal sustainability for Ontarians in 2019-20, TBS will:

• Lead and effectively manage the multi-year planning and in-year expenditure management process to support achievement of the government’s fiscal targets, including: implementing key recommendations from the line-by-line review conducted by EY Canada; ensuring government funding is directed to those that require it the most; and maximizing the value of government assets, and putting them to their most productive use.
• Promote the use of evidence‐based approaches to improve outcomes, harnessing innovative business practices and service delivery models, and maximizing the use of digital channels and solutions.
• Continue to focus on supporting initiatives that use behavioural science insights to improve outcomes and accelerate innovative program delivery. By pilot testing new, human‐centric approaches to improve outcomes and lower costs, TBS can generate the evidence to inform what works and what does not work before scaling up.
• Leverage technologies to drive capacity and innovation and help our partners achieve their mandates.
• Improve government Information and Information Technology (I&IT) investment decision-making to continue to achieve cost savings and improve how technology supports the delivery of government programs and services.
• In partnership with Ontario Digital Service and clients across the government, encourage and enable the development and implementation of quick, intuitive and easy to use services.
• Continue to implement enterprise risk management and internal control and assurance activities across the OPS to ensure risk management is integrated into decision-making, policy development, operations and transformation activities of ministries and provincial agencies.
• Develop, with the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, an integrated supply chain system across the Ontario Public Service and broader public sector that will make procurement processes more efficient, resulting in reduced red tape for vendors and more effective use of public expenditures for the people of Ontario.

To modernize the public service, TBS will:

• Support the government in ensuring all government activities reflect and reinforce a simple common brand standard rooted in the qualities of trust, responsiveness, more people-focused, caring and fairness. This new shared brand is reflected in a modernized Ontario Trillium Logo.
• Complete the development and implementation of a refreshed Leadership Model to ensure the OPS has the diversity, skills and leadership capacity required to support innovation in the public service.
• Strengthen and diversify the leadership cadre through enhanced succession planning supports and delivery of accelerated development programs. Work with human resource partners to ensure that the OPS has the workforce data available to support evidence-based policy development and to measure the effectiveness of HR and inclusion strategies.

To oversee labour relations and compensation, TBS will:

• Consult with Ontario public sector employers and bargaining agents on how compensation costs can be managed in a way that results in wage settlements that are modest, reasonable and sustainable.
• Continue to explore opportunities to expand collective bargaining oversight to key areas of the provincial public sector.
• Move forward with a consistent leadership compensation framework in the OPS and BPS that focuses on rewarding excellence based on outcomes and performance for public sector leaders. This includes setting specific priorities that leaders in the OPS and BPS must work towards.

To further support a transparent and accountable government, TBS will:

• Support the new Audit and Accountability Committee which will direct internal audit services to priority areas to ensure value for money.
• Continue to lead the review of provincial agencies to ensure efficiency and good governance.
• Support transparency and accountability in its financial reporting, and sound fiscal policy decisions through the consistent application of accounting policies, reporting structures, and risk management and control activities.
• Continue to follow Public Sector Accounting Standards in preparing the consolidated financial statements of the Province, ensuring the financial statements reflect the substance of the government’s activities.

Key performance measures

TBS is committed to delivering on government priorities through the ministry’s mandate of:

• Delivering good government and sustainable public services in the most effective and efficient way possible.
• Strategically driving cultural change and embedding a focus on fiscal responsibility across the whole of government.
• Spearheading the review and analysis of all government programs and services by ensuring evidence-based decision making, effective outcomes and value for money while protecting what matters most.
• Delivering on its core mandate with a strengthened internal audit function through the Audit and Accountability Committee, and ongoing program and agency reviews to find efficiencies and improve outcomes for the people of Ontario, and
• Leadership in labour relations and compensation with its Ontario Public Service and broader public-sector partners.

Utilizing a robust accountability measurement framework, key performance indicators are tracked to monitor the ministry’s progress towards the following government priorities:

• Supporting fiscal responsibility and transparency
• Containing program growth
• Increasing administrative efficiencies
• Strengthening accountability and internal audit controls
• Increased system efficiency through asset management
• Increase system efficiency through centralized procurement
• Reducing Red Tape

Ministry programs and activities

Treasury Board Secretariat is committed to innovation and transforming processes to help government provide more people-focused, forward-thinking, cost-effective, and responsive delivery of program and services that protect what matters most to Ontarians.

The Ministry Administration Program provides administrative and support services to enable the ministry to deliver results to support the government’s objectives and fiscal priorities. Its functions include financial and human resource management, and accommodations and facilities management. The program also provides legal and communications services and planning and results monitoring. The program assists and supports ministry program areas in achieving their business goals.

The Labour Relations and Compensation Program supports the government’s commitment to positive labour relations within the Ontario Public Service (OPS) and Broader Public Sector (BPS).

The program represents the Crown as the employer in all collective bargaining and labour relations issues affecting the OPS, provides employee and labour relations advisory services, supports ongoing union-management relations, and manages corporate compensation strategies and programs. It also provides fiscal governance of all benefit and pension plans for employees and retirees of the OPS and the judiciary.

The program analyzes internal and external factors that drive collective bargaining outcomes in the BPS to develop and provide evidence-based strategic guidance and advice to government, ministries and BPS employers related to ongoing collective bargaining and labour relations issues. The program also provides policy advice and support on government initiatives impacting executive compensation in the BPS.

The Employee and Pensioner Benefits (Employer Share) Program provides for the government’s expenses as an employer for insured benefits, statutory programs, non-insured benefits and certain public service pension plans, including third party administration and adjudication costs. The expenses are based on changes in the accrued liabilities of the government as sponsor or co-sponsor of certain insured benefit plans, pension plans and termination of employment entitlements.

The Treasury Board Support Program provides leadership and advisory services that support evidence-based decision making, prudent financial management and transparent public reporting across the public sector in Ontario. The program also provides leadership to ministries and provincial agencies through the delivery of strategic enterprise-wide policies, directives and advice designed to promote excellence in public service, including leading and supporting the review of Ontario’s provincial agencies.

The program fosters accountability and fiscal integrity by providing expertise and advice on the development and implementation of fiscal, financial management, performance measurement and infrastructure frameworks. The program ensures the appropriate use of public resources to meet government priorities by supporting Treasury Board/Management Board of Cabinet and providing advice on ministries' annual multi-year business, infrastructure, and Information Technology plans, the management of in-year expenditures, and the design of programs. In addition, the program assists the President of the Treasury Board, Deputy Minister and Secretary of the Treasury Board/Management Board of Cabinet, and the government with public reporting on plans and results through, for example, the Expenditure Estimates and the Public Accounts. The program also provides the Ontario Public Service and broader public sector with accountability, oversight, accounting, financial management policy, and controllership direction and advice.

The Office of the Public Service Commission (OPSC) program provides leadership to ministries and provincial agencies through the delivery of strategic, evidence based, enterprise-wide policies, directives and advice designed to promote excellence in public service and enhance the oversight and accountability of provincial agencies. The program includes the agency governance function and the Public Appointments Secretariat.

As an enterprise program supporting workforce strategies, OPSC also provides services including: supporting executive services in the areas of recruitment, retention and succession planning; helping to drive leadership capacity in the agencies, boards and commissions; developing human resource strategies policies, OPS workforce analytics and solutions, including FTE reporting; leadership on public service ethics, inclusion and diversity in the OPS; management consulting services for organizational transformation; implementing a strategy designed to attract, recruit and retain youth and new professionals to the OPS; and developing and delivering a fully integrated strategy for all groups and employees in the OPS.

The Audit Program provides objective assurance and consulting services to the ministries and key agencies of the Government of Ontario. It provides audit services that support clients in meeting their business objectives by evaluating and making recommendations to improve governance, risk management, control, accountability and compliance processes and to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of ministry and provincial agency operations.

The Central Agencies Cluster (CAC) Program provides leadership and cost-effective Information Technology (IT) support to its clients with the goal of improving the effectiveness of the government’s ability to deliver citizen-centred services. The Cluster develops and maintains the underlying IT solutions necessary to support a more modern, open, transparent and digitally connected government and helps its clients across the OPS to optimize the value of their services to taxpayers.

The Agencies, Boards and Commissions Program provides oversight to ensure effective governance, accountability, and relationship management.

The Conflict of Interest Commissioner has responsibility for certain conflict of interest and political activity matters as they apply to chairs and designated ethics executives of public bodies, and to certain employees of ministries and public bodies with respect to financial declarations. The Commissioner provides advice or determinations on specific conflict of interest or political activity matters, advises on financial declarations, approves conflict of interest rules submitted by public bodies and reviews and approves adjudicative tribunals’ ethics plans The Conflict of Interest Commissioner merged with the Office of the Integrity Commissioner (IC) on May 1, 2019.

The Bulk Media Buy Program supports the purchase of media for government marketing campaigns. Funding also covers associated agency fees, creative production costs, market research costs and the development of related marketing materials to support integrated campaigns associated with government initiatives. Paid government advertising is subject to the Government Advertising Act, 2004, and is reviewed and reported on by the Auditor General.

Table 1:  ministry planned expenditures 2019-20 ($M)

Other Programs include Bulk Media Buy, Conflict of Interest Commissioner and Audit Program.

Highlights of 2018-19 results

Below are the highlights of TBS’ 2018-19 achievements, that support the government in ensuring fiscal stewardship, sustainability, evidence-based decision making, producing effective outcomes and value for money while protecting what matters most.

Fiscal responsibility and sustainable public services

In its leadership role of fiscal responsibility and ensuring government services and program are sustainable, TBS supported and undertook the following:

• Leading and effectively managing the multi-year planning and in-year expenditure management process to support achievement of the government’s fiscal targets.
• A review of the Province's 10-year capital plan, to reflect more sustainable levels of infrastructure investment.
• Led the Planning for Prosperity consultations and Big Bold Ideas challenge to engage the public on ways to improve provincial services. The consultations collectively generated more than 26,000 ideas that were each carefully reviewed and compiled to support ministries’ plans for transformation.

To support long-term sustainability of the services that matter most; the TBS’s Central Agencies Cluster (CAC) spearheaded initiatives for cost savings and efficiencies for better, people-focused government and service delivery. Initiatives include

• Several benefits transformation initiatives; including initiatives for the Long-Term Care Rate Reduction and Survivors of Domestic Violence programs, to ensure fair and consistent income testing and eligibility and entitlement calculations.
• Completion of the Tax Compliance Verification Modernization project in the fall of 2018, which established an online self-serve channel to confirm businesses are in good standing with their provincial tax accounts.  By adding the online channel, this increased internal efficiencies for the Ministry of Finance, supported their eServices strategy and a priority of enhancing the client experience when interacting with the Ministry.
• A new Public Appointments Secretariat (PAS) system that reduces vacancy filling cycles, enables digital tracking and reporting, and remediated identified security vulnerabilities supporting the appointment of over 3700 qualified individuals to the province's 540+ agencies, boards, and commissions.
• An artificial intelligence system that merges tax and non-tax data to create an enhanced risk profile to better identify hot-spots of underground economy activity, as well as high-risk businesses in Ontario.

TBS has also been successful in increasing back-office administrative efficiencies by streamlining accommodation costs and the use of communications equipment.

Review and analysis for evidence-based decision making

Monitoring results, measuring success and focusing on accountability is key to delivering meaningful improvements to the services that Ontarians rely on.

• The line-by-line review conducted by EY Canada identified a number of opportunities to transform programs and services to ensure sustainability and value for money. The report entitled Managing Transformation — A Modernization Action Plan for Ontario, provides a modernization agenda to help drive efficiencies, find cost savings and create improved services for the people of Ontario.

Strengthening accountability and restoring trust

The Ministry continues to deliver on its core mandate of government accountability with a strengthened focus on the internal audit function and a collaborative effective working relationship with the Auditor General.  This is evidenced by:

• The release of the 2017–18 Public Accounts, which received a clean audit opinion from the province’s Auditor General for the first time in three years.
• A robust Quality Assurance Improvement Program framework that provides value-added audit assurance and advisory services to ministries and agencies to support continuous improvement, transformation and strong fiscal management.
• The formation of the Agency Review Task Force in the Fall of 2018 to undertake the review of provincial agencies to ensure they are relevant, efficient and effective and have appropriate oversight structures in place.

Managing compensation and effective leadership

TBS’s goal is to implement a modest, reasonable and sustainable approach to managing compensation. These include:

• Immediate stronger oversight of provincial agency collective bargaining, as announced in the 2018 Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review.
• A thorough review of leadership compensation practices in the public sector and the introduction of a new, consistent compensation framework that focuses on rewarding excellence while respecting public dollars.

TBS continues to pursue efficiencies that include:

• Supporting asset pooling and consolidation of smaller public sector pension plans. The Ontario Educational Authority (TVO) and Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) pension plans are being consolidated into the Public Service Pension Plan.

• Strengthening board governance of the OPS Pension Plans and is also implementing the pension recommendations from the 9th and 10th Provincial Judges Remuneration Commissions, creating a new funding structure with opportunities to reduce long-term costs.
• A negotiated wage settlement in March 2019 that is modest, reasonable, and sustainable, with the Professional Engineers Government of Ontario (PEGO).

• Interest arbitration that resulted in a reasonable outcome between the government and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Correctional Bargaining Unit that does not compromise the government’s goal of restoring fiscal balance.
• Overseeing collective bargaining in the provincial agency sector to ensure negotiated outcomes that are modest, reasonable and sustainable.

Public service modernization

Key to providingpeople-focused government and increasing service delivery is TBS‘ commitment to modernize the OPS and create a purpose-driven workplace culture that attracts, retains and reskills capable and diverse talent to successfully deliver on government priorities.

The following initiatives were taken to assist ministries in achieving successful organizational transformation that is responsive to government priorities and outcome-based program and service delivery:

• Human resource strategies and policies (non-compensation) to enable employees to leverage their full potential and deliver on transformation and organizational effectiveness.
• Facilitating and supporting OPS-wide strategic workforce planning to address emerging ministry and enterprise business priorities.
• Providing policy leadership, tools and resources to support strong governance, accountability and oversight of provincial agencies.
• Facilitating the government’s public appointments process to ensure fair and transparent appointments.

In addition, a new OPS-wide database (Public Appointments Management System (PAMS)) was implemented modernizing the appointments process across the enterprise.

As part of modernization, TBS enhanced Ontario’s role as a leader in government ethics by establishing an independent ethics office through the consolidation of the Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner with the Office of the Integrity Commissioner.

Ministry organization chart

Updated May 2019

• President of the Treasury Board – The Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy
  • Group of 5 Chair positions:
    • Chair, Public Service Commission
    • Chair, OPSEU Pension Trust
    • Chair, Ontario Public Service Pension Board
    • Chair, Provincial Judges Pension Board
    • Commissioner, Conflict of Interest
  • Deputy Minister, Treasury Board Secretariat Secretary of Treasury Board and Management Board of Cabinet – Karen Hughes
    • Director of Operations: Vivienne Skoberne (A)
    • Legal Director – Len Hatzis
    • Communications Director – Sofie DiMuzio
    • Chief Information Officer, Central Agencies Cluster – Liz Mackenzie (A)
    • Chief Internal Auditor and ADM, Ontario Internal Audit Division - Richard Kennedy
    • Chief Administrative Officer and ADM, Corporate Services Division – Didem Proulx
    • Chief Talent Officer, Office of the Public Service Commission – Diane McArthur
      • ADM, People Strategy & Organizational Performance – Brian Fior
    • Associate Deputy Minister, Office of the Treasury Board – Linda McAusland (A)
      • ADM, Planning and Performance – Shawn Lawson
      • ADM, Office of the Provincial Controller – Maureen Buckley
      • ADM, Operating Expenditure Management –Maria Duran-Schneider
      • ADM, Capital Expenditure Management – Russ Whitehead (A)
    • Associate Deputy Minister, Centre for Public Sector Labour Relations and Compensation – Marc Rondeau (A)
      • ADM, Centre for Public Sector Labour Relations and Compensation – Matt Siple (A)

Acts administered by the Treasury Board Secretariat

Adjudicative Tribunals Accountability, Governance and Appointments Act, 2009

Auditor General Act

Broader Public Sector Accountability Act, 2010, except in respect of sections 5, 6, 8, 14, 15, 17, 18 and 20

Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, 2014

Cabinet Ministers' and Opposition Leaders' Expenses Review and Accountability Act, 2002

Crown Foundations Act, 1996

Fairness in Procurement Act, 2018

Financial Administration Act, in respect of sections 1.0.1, 1.0.3 to 1.0.10, 1.0.21, 1.0.24, 1.0.25.1, 1.1, 9 to 10, 11.1 to 11.4, 11.5 to 11.8 and 15 to 16.0.2; and in respect of sections 1, 1.0.2, 1.0.14, 1.0.16, 1.0.17, 1.0.20, 1.0.22, 1.0.25, 1.0.26, 2, 5, 5.1, 6, 7, 8.1, 10.1, 11, 11.4.1, 14.1, 16.3, 16.4, 28 and 38 (except clause (1) (a.3)) to 45, the administration of the Act is shared between the President of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Finance

Flag Act

Floral Emblem Act

Government Advertising Act, 2004

Interim Appropriation for 2019-2020 Act, 2018

Lobbyists Registration Act, 1998

Management Board of Cabinet Act

Ministry of Government Services Act, in respect of services provided by the Treasury Board Secretariat

Ontario Provincial Police Collective Bargaining Act, 2006

Ontario Public Service Employees' Union Pension Act, 1994

Public Sector Compensation Restraint to Protect Public Services Act, 2010

Public Sector Expenses Review Act, 2009

Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, 1996

Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006, except in respect of sections 21 to 27 and clause 31 (1) (b)

Public Service Pension Act

Supply Act, 2019

Agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs)

Case Management Masters Remuneration Commission

Commissioner: William Kaplan

Established by Order in Council. Conducts inquiries and makes non-binding recommendations to the President of the Treasury Board regarding the remuneration of Ontario Case Management Masters (provincially appointed judicial officers). The Commission’s report is submitted to the Lieutenant Governor in Council for a response.

Deputy Judges Remuneration Commission

Commissioner: Warren Winkler

Established by Order in Council. Conducts inquiries and makes non-binding recommendations to the President of the Treasury Board regarding the remuneration of Deputy Judges. The Commission’s report is submitted to the Lieutenant Governor in Council for a response.

Justices of the Peace Remuneration Commission

Chair: Warren Winkler

Established under the Justices of the Peace Act. Conducts inquiries and makes non-binding recommendations to the President of the Treasury Board regarding the remuneration of Ontario Justices of the Peace. The Commission’s report is submitted to the Lieutenant Governor in Council for a response.

Ontario Internal Audit Committee

Chair: Charles-Antoine St-Jean

Established by Order in Council as an independent, provincial advisory Committee with the mandate to help strengthen governance, risk management, and internal control practices of the Ontario government. Provides advice, recommendations and reports to the President of the Treasury Board (in his role as the Chair of the Audit and Accountability Committee) and in consultation with the Secretary of the Cabinet. Supports the Audit and Accountability Committee in delivering its mandate and reports back on the status/key findings of top priority risk-based audits.

Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner

Commissioner: Hon. Sidney B. Linden

Established under the Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006. Offers advice and makes determinations on specific conflict of interest, political activity and financial declaration matters related to in-service and post service obligations on Ontario’s public servants. Provides advice and direction to public bodies, upon request. Approves the conflict of interest rules of public bodies and approves the ethics plans of adjudicative tribunals. Serves as a resource for developing and sharing information and promoting awareness of the conflict of interest and political activity rules. As of May 1, 2019, the powers, duties and functions of the Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner were assumed by the Office of the Integrity Commissioner, an independent office of the Legislative Assembly.

Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Pension Plan Board of Trustees

Chair: Michael Grimaldi

An independent trust organization (not a provincial agency or a public body) established under a Joint Sponsorship Agreement between Ontario and the members under the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Pension Act, 1994. Administers the OPSEU Pension Plan, including the investment of the OPSEU Pension Fund and the adjudication and provision of benefits under the plan.

Ontario Public Service Pension Board

Chair: Geraldine (Geri) Markvoort

A public body and Trust agency established under the Public Service Pension Act. Administers the Public Service Pension Plan, including the investment of the Public Service Pension Fund and the adjudication and provision of benefits under the plan. Also carries out administrative functions in relation to the Provincial Judges Pension Plan for the Provincial Judges Pension Board.

Provincial Judges Pension Board

Chair: Deborah Anne Oakley

A public body and Trust agency continued by O. Reg. 290/13 made under the Courts of Justice Act. The Board is responsible for administering the pensions and survivor allowances for provincial judges and their survivors.

Provincial Judges Remuneration Commission

Chair: William Kaplan

Continued under the Framework Agreement between Ontario and the Provincial Judges set out as a schedule to O. Reg. 407/93 under the Courts of Justice Act. Conducts inquiries and makes binding recommendations to the President of the Treasury Board regarding the salaries and benefits and non-binding recommendations regarding the pensions of Provincial Judges.

Public Service Commission

Chair: Diane McArthur

Established under the Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006 (PSOA). Ensures the effective management and administration of human resources in relation to public servants appointed under Part III of PSOA. Ensures non-partisan recruitment and employment of public servants.

Table 2: agencies, boards and commissions – financial summary

Note: For all agencies above, except for Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner, the figures represent only those expenses incurred by Treasury Board Secretariat on behalf of these agencies. The amounts above do not represent these agencies' full allocations.

Detailed financial information

Ministry of Treasury Board Secretariat

Table 3: combined operating and capital summary by vote

Table 4: historical trend analysis

For additional financial information, see:

Ontario.ca/estimates

Ontario.ca/publicaccounts

Ontario.ca/budget

Appendix: 2018-19 annual report

2018-19 Results

Treasury Board Secretariat’s (TBS’s) mandate is to support the President of the Treasury Board and lead transformation that builds better public services for the future of Ontario.

During the past year, Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) played a crucial role in delivering good government and sustainable public services in the most effective and efficient way possible. It does this by strategically driving cultural change and embedding a focus on fiscal responsibility across the whole of government.

Fiscal responsibility and sustainable public services

TBS led and effectively managed the multi-year planning and in-year expenditure management process to support achievement of the government’s fiscal targets. A long-term plan is now in place to ensure the government is more efficient and services provide real benefits to the people of Ontario.

TBS also led a review of the Province’s 10-year capital plan, to reflect more sustainable levels of infrastructure investment.

TBS undertook the Planning for Prosperity consultations and the Big Bold ideas challenge. The consultations engaged the public on ways to improve provincial services and supported the line-by-line review. These consultations collectively generated more than 26,000 ideas that were each carefully reviewed and compiled to support ministries’ plans for transformation.

To support long-term sustainability of the services that matter most; the TBS’s Central Agencies Cluster (CAC) spearheaded initiatives for cost savings and efficiencies for better, people-focused government and service delivery.  Initiatives include:

• A digital platform that reduces vacancy filing cycles, enables digital tracking and reporting, and remediates identified security vulnerabilities supporting the appointment of over 3700 qualified individuals to the province's 540+ agencies, boards, and commissions.
• Several benefits transformation initiatives; including initiatives for the Long-Term Care Rate Reduction and Survivors of Domestic Violence programs, to ensure fair and consistent income testing and eligibility and entitlement calculations.
• Completion of the Tax Compliance Verification Modernization project in the fall of 2018, which established an online self-serve channel to confirm businesses are in good standing with their provincial tax accounts. By adding the online channel, this increased internal efficiencies for the Ministry of Finance, supported their eServices strategy and a priority of enhancing the client experience when interacting with the government.
• An artificial intelligence system that merges tax and non-tax data to create an enhanced risk profile to better identify hot-spots of underground economy activity, as well as high-risk businesses in Ontario.
• The Public Sector Salary Disclosure has been streamlined through an automated tool. This automation function has streamlined the manual and very labour-intensive processes associated with validating salary data, allowing for efficient and accurate publishing of the annual public sector and Broader Public Sector salary disclosure list, in accordance with legislation.

TBS has also been successful in increasing back-office administrative efficiencies by streamlining accommodation costs and the use of communications equipment.

Review and analysis for evidenced-based decision making

TBS continues to spearhead the review and analysis of all government programs and services by ensuring evidence‐ based decision making, effective outcomes and value for money while protecting what matters most.

TBS supported the line-by-line review conducted by EY Canada to find opportunities for transformation. The review analyzed expenditures and conducted selected jurisdictional benchmarking. EY Canada’s report identified a number of ways the government could transform programs and services to ensure sustainability and value for money. The findings highlighted opportunities to optimize expenditures and processes across ministries and sectors.

One example of where TBS is implementing recommendations from the line-by-line review: TBS is working with MGCS, the development of a centralized procurement system across the Ontario Public Service and broader public sector. The centralized system will drive significant cost savings by streamlining the purchasing processes across vendors and consolidate contracts. This will create more efficient program and back office administration and help to ensure value for public expenditure.

Strengthening accountability and restoring trust

In keeping with Ontario's commitment to openness and transparency, the government released the salaries of Ontario Public Service and broader public sector employees who were paid $100,000 or more in 2018. The compendium was released in a downloadable, machine-readable format. The data is also available in sortable, searchable tables on Ontario.ca/salarydisclosure, making it more accessible to the public.

The 2017-18 Public Accounts received a clean audit opinion from the Auditor General, meaning the consolidated financial statements, which comprise of the statement of financial position, statement of operations, change in net debt, change in accumulated deficit and cash flow, are prepared in accordance with Canadian Public Sector Accounting Standards and are presented fairly. This is the first time in three years in which Ontario’s financial statements received a clean audit opinion from the Auditor General.

To support the government’s commitment to restoring accountability and trust, TBS provides secretariat support to the Agency Review Task Force (task force). The task force is made up of members of provincial parliament and commenced its comprehensive review of all provincial agencies in November 2018.

Managing compensation and effective leadership

TBS’s goal is to implement a modest, reasonable, and sustainable approach to managing compensation.

In 2018, the government took immediate action to restore sustainability to the province’s finances by implementing stronger oversight of provincial agency collective bargaining, as announced in the 2018 Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review.

The Ministry continues to pursue efficiencies that include:

• Supporting asset pooling and consolidation of smaller public sector pension plans. The Ontario Educational Authority (TVO) and Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) pension plans are being consolidated into the Public Service Pension Plan.
• Strengthening board governance of the OPS Pension Plans and is also implementing the pension recommendations from the 9th and 10th Provincial Judges Remuneration Commissions, creating a new funding structure with opportunities to reduce long-term costs.
• Modest and sustainable collective agreement agreements, with wage outcomes that are in alignment with the government’s approved mandates for 4 provincial agencies (Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, 10 Local Health Integration Networks, Trillium Gift of Life Network, and the Niagara Parks Commission).
• A negotiated agreement with the Professional Engineers Government of Ontario (PEGO) that includes a wage settlement that is modest, reasonable, and sustainable in March 2019.
• Interest arbitration that resulted in a reasonable outcome between the government and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Correctional Bargaining Unit that does not compromise the government’s goal of restoring fiscal balance.

Public service modernization

TBS is committed to modernizing the OPS and creating a purpose-driven workplace culture that attracts, retains and reskills capable and diverse talent to successfully deliver on government priorities.

The following initiatives were taken to assist ministries in achieving successful organizational transformation that is responsive to government priorities and outcome-based program and service delivery:

• Developing Human resource strategies and policies (non-compensation) to enable employees to leverage their full potential and deliver on transformation and organizational effectiveness
• Facilitating and supporting OPS-wide strategic workforce planning to address emerging ministry and enterprise business priorities
• Providing policy leadership, tools and resources to support strong governance, accountability and oversight of provincial agencies
• Facilitating the government’s public appointments process to ensure fair and transparent appointments

In addition, a new OPS-wide database (Public Appointments Management System (PAMS)) was implemented modernizing the appointments process across the enterprise.

As part of modernization, TBS enhanced Ontario’s role as a leader in government ethics by establishing an independent ethics office through the consolidation of the Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner with the Office of the Integrity Commissioner.

Table 5:  ministry interim actual expenditures 2018-19