Modernizing Government and Summary Reporting

Modernizing Government

Budget 2022 continues work from the past five years to modernize government through better measurement of its progress using balanced scorecards, investing in digital government, transforming the public service and providing better and smarter services through various innovative initiatives.

Balanced Scorecards

The Manitoba government launched balanced scorecards and Canada&aposs first public facing dashboard, to align all levels of the organization to government’s strategic priorities. Department priorities and performance measures were completed and in 2021, departments released their first annual strategic business plan under this model.

Department scorecards, performance measures and key initiatives are presented as annual business plans in the Supplement to the Estimates of Expenditure . In this supplement, each department explains its key initiatives and performance measures that advance the four government priority areas: quality of life, working smarter, public service and value for money.

Current scorecard work drives the key department priorities and measures into all branches including department public-facing services. This work brings a renewed focus on key client and citizen outcomes, such as reduced service wait times and improved access to services. Effective performance measures enable leaders and employees to make effective, proactive decisions that ensure service targets are met.

Balanced scorecards will evolve with the renewed priorities of government and the full benefits will be realized over time. The benefits of a common language and approach to strategy and performance measurement and increased employee engagement with strategy will result in innovative solutions to complex problems and improved focus on citizen outcomes.

Digital Government

The Manitoba government continues with the multi-year Digital Action Plan to implement digital services that transform how citizens and businesses request and access public services. The plan includes establishing foundational technology platforms, digital standards, processes and tools such as agile practices and procurement mediums.

The plan takes a citizen and business first approach and looks at strategic priorities, government-wide and departmental digital and technology demand, the existing IT solution portfolio and the external technology landscape. This approach will allow Manitoba to maximize investments in digital solutions and technology.

The Manitoba government is planning to undertake the following initiatives for the 2022/23 fiscal year:

• Vital Statistics Modernization – develop a reimagined citizen service delivery model within the digital context to streamline the management of significant life events (birth, marriage and death) utilizing online channels and the foundational elements of digital identity.
• Student Financial Aid – develop a new financial aid system integrated with the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) to streamline both the disbursement and collection of student loans and eliminate redundancy.
• Courts Modernization – replace the court systems to align them with Manitoba Justice’s modernization goals including electronic filing of documents, reduced paper and improved integration between systems.
• Manitoba Grants Online – implement a common government-wide solution for grants applications and administration.
• Parks Reservation System – replace the Parks Reservation System with modern technology to increase capacity and improve the overall booking experience.
• Courts Video Conferencing Enhancements – expand the courts video-conferencing capabilities to allow external parties to virtually participate in court hearings from multiple locations.
• Direct Deposit Payments to Landlord for Employment and Income Assistance Clients – create efficiencies through the elimination of printing, mailing and handling of an estimated 22,000 cheques per month.
• Environmental Risk and Preparedness – use real-time data and advanced analytics to predict environmental risks from diverse factors to Manitoba’s environment and critical infrastructure.

Social Innovation Office

In 2018, Manitoba signed the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Declaration on Public Service Innovation, recognizing that if meaningful and lasting results are to be achieved for constituents, governments need to work in new and inventive ways with a greater focus on what works and what does not. Acting on this declaration, the Manitoba government launched the Social Innovation Office in 2020 to bring together the community and private sector with government to solve complex social and environmental challenges that are difficult for government to address alone.

With a focus on social finance and social innovation, Manitoba has quickly become a national leader. It has developed five social impact bonds designed to make an impact on things that matter to Manitobans including a measurable reduction in the number of days that Indigenous children spend in care of the child welfare system and in custody of the justice system.

The Social Innovation Office has also co-designed culturally relevant urban Indigenous vaccine clinics, which demonstrated two and three times higher outcomes than previous campaigns and offered insights into how Indigenous partners and health care can come together to achieve greater health care outcomes in other areas. In 2022/23, the Social Innovation Office will continue to deepen its relationships with government and the community, and impact investors committed to health care, economic recovery and reconciliation, enabling the government to achieve meaningful and lasting results for Manitobans.

More information about the Social Innovation Office can be found at www.manitoba.ca/sio/impactfulsustainablesolutions.html .

The Idea Fund

The Idea Fund invests resources to support efficiencies and generate savings within the public service as part of the advancement of government’s Transforming the Public Service: A Strategy for Action.

This fund recognizes the good ideas coming from the public service that drive innovation, improve engagement and generate savings for government. Funding is available to government departments as well as other government organizations within the health and education sectors for projects and initiatives on an application basis.

Since the start of the program, 99 projects have been approved at a total investment of $51.5 million resulting in estimated savings of $71.5 million over four years with an average return on investment of 139 per cent.

$51.5 million Investment Approved
45 Completed Projects	54 Ongoing Projects
139% Estimated Avg. Project ROI
$71.5 million Net Savings Projected over four years

Idea fund projects address numerous categories for improvement and innovation including Information Technology, Program Equipment and Department Services:

• The Manitoba GO Grant Portal project implemented a single-window grants portal and management system to support end-to-end monitoring of Manitoba’s grant management activities. The one-stop portal provides organizations access to a variety of government grants and currently features grant offerings from four departments – municipal relations; agriculture; environment, climate and parks; and sport, culture and heritage. The portal has reduced internal costs related to administering grants and modernized services to improve interactions between the government and grant recipients.
• The Modernization of Water Quality Project will invest in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and train and certify staff members to conduct water quality sampling using these remote technologies. This innovative solution will allow ongoing sampling of the same locations that have been sampled since the 1970s and provide increased scientific accuracy, response time to emergencies and a safer work environment for field staff.
• The Overnight Respite Home pilot project will see two overnight respite homes open in Winnipeg and Brandon. The project provides greater support options for families who are raising children with disabilities by improving access to respite services supported by trained and experienced workers.

Transforming Culture

Redefining Who We Are

Proclaimed on February 26, 2022, the Public Service Act provides an important foundation for the future of Manitoba’s Public Service. The new act provides a legislative framework for an ethical and effective public service for Manitoba by setting out fundamental values such as transparency, accountability, integrity and respect for others. The legislative framework sets out a fresh and innovative approach to workforce management, supported by a code of conduct and an action plan, and sets out foundational principles to support a modern public service, including diversity, inclusion, ethics and integrity. The act also defines the different components of the public service and harmonizes principles and values across sectors, by including the broader public sector.

Flexible Work

The future of work in Manitoba is shifting to a more modern, flexible public service that can adapt to evolving service and workforce needs.

In support of the new Public Service Act, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has developed and formally announced a Flexible Work Arrangements policy in July of 2021. This workforce policy enables management to consider individual flexible work requests in how and where the public service works and/or adjust working hours to help balance work with personal responsibilities while still providing high-level services to Manitobans.

Truth and Reconciliation Initiatives

The Manitoba government is committed to implementing call to action #57 (CTA57) of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which requires all levels of government to implement training related to Indigenous history, culture, rights and laws.

This past year, several training and engagement opportunities were offered to public servants that included:

• Virtual instructor-led workshops and lunch hour seminars:
  • the Path to Reconciliation: An Historic and Contemporary Overview
  • exploring the Historical and Modern Treaty Relationship
  • building Your Indigenous Cross-Cultural Awareness
  • treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba Speaker Bureau Series
• Employee engagement sessions, Speaking the Truth Series, which were supported by the Public Service Commissioner in collaboration with the Deputy Minister, Indigenous Reconciliation and Northern Relations that provided employees an opportunity to discuss the journey of truth-telling and reconciliation.

The PSC also leads a cross-department Truth and Reconciliation Advisory Committee to foster alignment of departmental training efforts and sharing of resources.

Employee Engagement

The Manitoba government recognizes that employees are critical to the success of the Manitoba government, helping to deliver on Manitoba government’s priorities and improve outcomes for Manitobans. Fulfilling government commitments and achieving objectives as a government requires tapping into the skills, knowledge, creativity and energy of employees. The valuable feedback provided helps to shape the public service culture and inform changes that will ensure it continues to be an engaging, supportive and innovative workplace that provides employees with the tools necessary to maximize their potential.

Through the enhanced Employees Perspectives Program (EPP), employees are invited to participate in an annual survey. This yearly survey provides employees with the opportunity to voice their experiences and perspectives related to the ongoing transformation of Manitoba’s
public service and offers a direct line to senior
government decision-makers. The most recent EPP
survey was conducted in January 2022.

New this year, through the January 2022 survey, employees were invited to volunteer to be included in a special online employee panel, made up of a group of representative and diverse public servants that will be engaged throughout the year on additional topical
surveys and group discussions to dig deeper into key issues facing Manitoba’s public service.

Workforce Action Plan

Many of the lessons learned from the pandemic have underscored common workforce needs, many of which can be solved through strategic workforce planning, with enhanced coordination across government. The new Workforce Action Plan for Manitoba&aposs Public Service will focus on data-driven workforce planning and renewal at the department level and take a whole-of-government approach to build organizational capacity to support the Transformation Strategy.

The plan focused on recruitment, engagement and retention including tangible initiatives that began last year and will continue into this year to ensure success and sustainability. In 2021/22, the PSC completed a new Talent Analytics Dashboard to accelerate data driven workforce planning within departments and organization-wide, an organization review of its services and structure, and initiation of focused reconciliation training. Current initiatives include working towards a future state organization structure and service interaction model that will align resources to enhance service delivery. Large-scale organizational workforce improvements are underway and include the overhaul and enhancement of the following key items: hiring manager’s toolkit, onboarding for new employees and new leaders, exit surveys and PSC intranet site.

Investing in Public Servants

Learning Fund

The Learning Fund continues to have great success since its inception in 2019. This centralized fund provides equitable access to all public servants to take additional education and training to further support ongoing employee development within the organization.

As of December 31, 2021, the fund had approved 649 individual applications and 160 group applications, for a total combined value of nearly $1,173,605. The Learning Fund will continue in 2022, fully funded at $2 million.

Developing Leaders

In spite of competing priorities of public service leaders due to the pandemic, the government was able to sustain the delivery of leadership development opportunities through the past year by shifting to virtual delivery. The customized program offered in partnership with the Schulich Executive Education Centre focuses on creating a culture of leadership excellence, developing innovative business leaders that support a service-focused culture, championing the Manitoba government brand, and living its values. To date, 80 participants at the Deputy Minister and Assistant Deputy Minister executive level and 115 senior level leaders have completed the program. Further training for executive and senior leaders is being planned for 2022/23.

Supporting leadership development at all levels of the organization will help us harness talent and align with transformation goals. A new Leadership Foundations for Supervisors program has been developed, and plans are underway for further development opportunities for mid-level and front-line managers.

Leadership development also requires experiential learning through active participation in a variety of projects across government. This experiential and cross government learning is a hallmark of the Leaders in Training Program (LTP), which helps develop future leaders. Since its inception in 2019, this program has recruited 27 interns in the general stream and 15 in the financial stream, to foster new and emerging talent in the public service.

Procurement Modernization

The Manitoba government continues to lead the Procurement Modernization initiative with additional investments in resources that will help the province shop smarter.

The Manitoba government has expanded procurement modernization to include additional high value procurement categories across a broader reach of public sector entities, consolidating buying volumes with a goal to drive annual category savings from an initial $18 million to $137 million over a number of years. Through a modernized procurement lens, spend areas such as Facility Services, IT infrastructure, and Construction Services have been addressed. More than $38 million in total cost savings has been realized to date, with hundreds of millions more expected to be realized over the years to come.

Agencies, Boards and Commissions

The Manitoba government makes appointments to a number of agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs). These are entities established by government to carry out a range of functions and services, and include councils, authorities, advisory bodies, funding bodies, professional organizations and quasi-judicial tribunals.

Board of directors’ membership is established both through application and nomination and appointments are made by the minister responsible for the board.

Board orientation training is provided to all board members to situate their important work in the context of the type of agency, board or commission and ensure that their particular roles and responsibilities are well understood. The board members carry significant public responsibility and government strives to ensure that the public duty is carried out effectively.

The government is committed to strong public sector governance over its ABCs. New board governance training starts this spring and will engage new and existing boards of directors on the principles of good governance and their fiduciary responsibilities. Effective governance leads to better outcomes in the public interest, provides strategic direction, effective oversight, and accountability between the ABCs, the government and citizens of Manitoba.

If you are interested to learn more about Manitoba’s ABCs, please visit www.manitoba.ca/government/abc/index.html .

Modernizing Government and Summary Reporting

Summary Reporting

The Manitoba government is continuing efforts to accurately account for the financial position, quantify all contingencies, and strengthen internal controls for effective and efficient use of government resources, and reduce red tape. This includes the modernization of legislation, improving how the government borrows and lends money, and implementing new accounting rules to accurately reflect the financial state of Manitoba.

Financial Administration Act Modernization and Other Legislative Reforms

This government will continue to make updates and reforms to the Financial Administration Act and other legislation to ensure greater transparency and accountability.

Bill 16, The Financial Administration Amendment Act will continue with reforms to ensure the Legislative Assembly and the public have relevant information on future budgets and ensure that supplementary information is tabled before Legislative Assembly votes on the government’s budget motion.

Bill 16 amendments will increase the transparency and accountability for how Legislative Assembly authorizes borrowing of money. The legislation will be improved by specifying the total authority limits for the provincial government and Manitoba Hydro (in legislation). This will replace the annual Loan Act that provides incremental authority. In future budgets, the government will present its estimate of the total borrowing required that fiscal year and the legislature will consider this as part of the budget process. These limits will be adjusted by future budget legislation and will provide sufficient authority for the government and Manitoba Hydro to operate with provisions allowing for additional borrowing in exigent circumstances.

Legislative changes will continue to make updates and reforms to the Financial Administration Act and other legislation. Reforms will be made to provide a more uniform process for how audits are performed and to eliminate the special operating agencies finance authority to streamline the financing of special operating agencies.

Implemented Accounting Changes

The Public Sector Accounting Board of Chartered Professional Accountants Canada, which is responsible for the Public Sector Accounting Standards has set April 1, 2022 as the implementation date for two new standards, namely PS 3280 Asset Retirement Obligations (ARO) and PS 3450 Financial Instruments (FI). Both of these new accounting standards are reflected in Budget 2022. Both the ARO and FI standards will impact the liabilities and financial assets of the government.

PS 3450 Financial Instruments establishes standards on how to account for and report on all types of financial instruments including derivatives. A financial instrument is any contract that gives rise to financial assets in one entity and financial liabilities or equity instruments in another entity.

Changes in the fair value of financial instruments will be ‘parked’ on the Statement of Remeasurement Gains and Losses until the financial instruments are sold or mature, and are transferred to the statement of operations. The fair value changes cannot be estimated as they reflect future fluctuations in the market. The Manitoba government will disclose the results of financial instruments in the Public Accounts. It is anticipated that the most notable effect of the FI standard will be on net debt due to the unrealized gains or losses of financial instruments measured at fair value, especially derivatives.

PS 3280 Asset Retirement Obligations addresses the reporting of legal obligations associated with the retirement of certain tangible capital assets and solid landfill sites by public service entities. Government is obligated to remediate certain assets as they are retired from use, such as buildings, equipment or land, and water-based assets.

The Manitoba government has thoroughly assessed the impacts of the introduction of these two new accounting standards in order to include the depreciation of the obligations as non-voted expenses in the budget and to minimize the transitional impact of implementation across summary government.

Right Asset, Right Owner

Over the course of many decades, government has either acquired or built many assets, which at that time, met a critical need for the public. Such is the case with Northern Airport and Marine Operations (NAMO), of the department of transportation and infrastructure. NAMO’s assets of airports and ferry services across northern Manitoba has met, and continues to meet, the needs of Manitobans in the north. These include the transport of people, goods and services, particularly government services such as air ambulance and justice services.

Given the importance of these assets to First Nations, the Manitoba government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) in January 2020 to enter into discussions on the potential to transfer NAMO assets to First Nations control. The discussions have been delayed due to the pandemic. Both the government and AMC recognize the vital importance of these assets to the north and to the lives of citizens, and as such will be seeking to ensure the long-term sustainability of these assets.

Red Tape Reduction

The Manitoba government continues to make progress in improving regulatory accountability and reducing the administrative burden of regulatory requirements on stakeholders.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the government adopted many innovative and more-efficient regulatory practices to address the urgent health, economic, environmental and social needs of Manitobans. Many of these common-sense regulatory changes, such as accepting e-signatures, permitting virtual corporate meetings and allowing remote witnessing of documents, will continue to reduce the administrative burden on Manitobans going forward.

These small but important changes exemplify the commitment of departments and government agencies to identify, streamline and reduce regulatory requirements that are not achieving their intended objectives. Because of actions like these over the last five years, there was a reduction of 98,890 or 10.3 per cent in the government-wide number of regulatory requirements from the baseline measurement of 961,987.

The Manitoba government is also leading efforts to reduce red tape on inter-provincial trade through the Regulatory Reconciliation and Cooperation Table (RCT). Through the RCT, Manitoba has participated in the negotiation of nine regulatory reconciliation agreements in areas including occupational health and safety standards, technical safety, construction codes and corporate registries. These small changes help reduce barriers to the free flow of goods, services, capital and labour between Canadian provinces.

Manitoba remains focused on the long-term goal of removing unnecessary regulatory requirements and the cost they impose on stakeholders and government through these types of regulatory modernization efforts. Modernizing provincial rules and requirements to achieve these outcomes will ensure the Manitoba economy continues its recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and creates a prosperous future for all Manitobans.

Collective Bargaining

Summary government has approximately 200 separate bargaining units spanning the departments and all government reporting entities including school divisions, post-secondary institutions, health service delivery organizations and others. In 2021/22, the Manitoba government has settled a number of collective agreements with nurses, teachers and other education support workers, Crown attorneys and others. Manitoba values its public servants and is working towards completing all remaining wage contract settlements by the end of this fiscal year 2022/23.

Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC)

The Manitoba Public Accounts have been receiving a qualified audit opinion due to its accounting for the accumulated insurance premiums at MASC. This government takes an audit qualification by the Office of the Auditor General very seriously. That is why an important change to the regulation to the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation Act was made in 2021. The regulation ensures that it is clear in the insurance contracts administered by MASC that all of the insurance premiums collected under the AgriInsurance program is restricted for the sole purpose of paying insurance indemnities under the program. Although it has been the historic practice, specifying this change in regulation and in the insurance contracts makes the intention of the MASC trusts more clear. It is anticipated that this accounting policy change will make it possible for the Office of the Auditor General to lift the qualification related to MASC trusts in the 2022/23 Public Accounts.