Question Period Note: Tabling of Employment and Social Development Canada’s Supplementary Estimates (B) for Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2025

Why is Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) requesting a transfer of $54,455
from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development to the Department of
Employment and Social Development to adjust funding previously provided for
departmental staff located at missions abroad in the Supplementary Estimates (B) for fiscal
year ending March 31, 2025?

To fulfill Canada’s commitment to supporting Mexico in meeting its labour obligations
under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, ESDC secured $27.5 million in
funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022 through fiscal year 2024 to 2025. As part of this
funding, two labour attaché positions were established at the Canadian Embassy in
Mexico.
• However, as the funding was not renewed beyond fiscal year 2024 to 2025, the two
positions were abolished, effective August 31, 2024, and March 31, 2025, respectively.
• The abolition of the positions in August 2024 left $54,455 in funds that had already
been invoiced by GAC for the fiscal year 2024 to 2025 to cover common services and
other operating costs. Since these funds were not utilized from August 31, 2024, to
March 31,2025, ESDC is requesting the transfer of these unused funds from GAC in the
Supplementary Estimates (B).

In December 2020, ESDC received $27.5 million in spending authorities, over four years (from
fiscal year 2021 to 2022 to fiscal year 2024 to 2025) to support Mexico in meeting its labour
obligations set out in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), as well as the
requirements of the labour law reform initiated in the country in 2019. Of the total amount,
$20 million in grants were allocated to the International Trade and Labour stream of the Labour
Funding Program, a Grants and Contributions program, for technical and capacity-building
projects, and $7.5 million for operating costs, allocated primarily for the creation of two CBS
positions to serve as labour attachés at the Canadian Embassy in Mexico.
To implement the deployment of the two labour attachés, the Labour Program of ESDC signed an
agreement on Operations and Support at Missions with GAC in 2021. This agreement outlines
operational guidelines for managing and administering common services provided by GAC to
client departments like ESDC through its network of missions abroad. These services encompass
areas such as administration, information management and technology, property and materials,
security, and transportation.
When a client department makes changes to its program abroad, GAC returns any net savings
resulting from those changes to the partner organizations. In this context, as the funding for the
renewal of the Labour Program’s CUSMA initiative in Mexico was not renewed beyond fiscal year
2024 to 2025, Labour Program officials worked with GAC representatives to abolish labour
attaché positions at the Canadian Embassy in Mexico. Two positions were officially abolished,
effective August 31, 2024, and March 31, 2025, respectively.
Regarding the position abolished effective August 31, 2024, the Labour Program of ESDC is
requesting a transfer of $54,455 from GAC to ESDC for personnel-related and other operating
expenses through the Supplementary Estimates (B) for the fiscal year 2024 to 2025. This amount
reflects the full funding being returned to the Labour Program of ESDC for the period from
August 31, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

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