Report on Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences - 2013

As required by the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on the total annual expenditures for each of travel, hospitality and conferences for the CRTC for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013. 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 related to supporting departmental mandates and the government's priorities.

In particular, for the CRTC, this includes expenditures on travel, hospitality and conferences incurred while regulating and supervising the Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications systems in the public interest, according to the policy objectives established in the Broadcasting Act of 1991 and the Telecommunications Act of 1993. As well, in December 2010, Royal Assent was granted for Anti-spam legislation entitled An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities, and to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act (i.e. Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)). These expenditures include non-discretionary travel costs related to the statutory requirements such as the conduct of public hearings and Commission meetings.

Further details about the CRTC's authority, mandate and program activities can be found in the department's Departmental Performance Report (DPR), Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP), and other sources of relevant information located on the Treasury Board website.

Total annual expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences of CRTC are summarized below:
(in thousands of dollars)
Expenditure Category Expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2013
(a)
Expenditures for the previous year ending March 31, 2012
(b)
Variances (a)-(b)
Travel - Public Servants $703 $981 -$278
Travel - Non-Public Servants $12 $7 $5
Minister and Minister's Staff $0 $0 $0
Total Travel $715 $988 -$273
Hospitality $46 $108 -$62
Conference Fees $130 $304 -$174
TOTAL $891 $1,400 -$509

Significant variances compared to the previous fiscal year

Overall expenditures on travel, hospitality and conferences have decreased by $509K or (36%) compared to the previous year's expenditures. This exceeded the 6% reduction target that was forecast in last year's annual report on travel, hospitality and conferences.

There is a significant reduction in expenditures in each of the three categories in 2012-13 from the 2011-12 fiscal year. Reductions are largely the result of active and on-going management of the CRTC's travel hospitality and conference expenditures.

Travel: Departmental travel expenditures decreased significantly in 2012-13 compared to 2011-12 due to considerable efforts to constrain spending, such as establishing monitoring processes to reduce the number of travelers per trip and adopting more streamlined and economical processes and practices. Examples of economical practices included use of economy and discounted airfares and increased use of teleconferencing and videoconferencing to minimize the need to travel.

Core requirements were protected in order to ensure the department was able to deliver on its key priorities and statutory responsibilities including stakeholder consultations and public hearings.

The CRTC will continue to actively monitor travel related expenditures in 2013-14.

Hospitality and Conference Fees: For similar reasons noted above, hospitality and conference fees also decreased significantly from the previous year. There was a general reduction in the number of organized events combined with scaled down events versus the previous year. In addition, the number of individuals attending conferences was reduced.

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