Question Period Note: 2020-21 PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

The Public Accounts of Canada for the year ended March 31, 2021 were tabled in Parliament by the President of the Treasury Board on December 14, 2021.

• Canadian Heritage’s 2020-21 Public Accounts were prepared in accordance with the Receiver General’s procedures.
• The financial information presented in these Accounts include emergency support measures implemented by the Government of Canada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which provided critical support to the Official Languages sectors and the communities they serve.
• The emergency support measures implemented by the Government of Canada were intended to support organizations benefiting from the Official Languages Program that have experienced significant impacts to their programming as a result of public health restrictions.

• The department’s total net cost of operations increased from the previous year’s total largely due to emergency support measures implemented by the Government of Canada providing additional temporary relief to sectors supported by the Department of Canadian Heritage, including Official Languages, to support and help them plan, maintain jobs and business continuity.

• An increase in expenditures of $40.9M in the Official Languages Program was primarily due to increased funding to improve support for minority-language education by providing more support to the provinces and territories, the Teacher recruitment and retention initiative and infrastructure projects. A portion of this amount ($5.2M) was for COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund (ESF) payments made to provide additional temporary relief to support and help organizations.

• Restrictions imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19 caused significant disruptions such as increased vulnerability of community organizations, intermittent closures of schools and post-secondary institutions, cultural facilities and gathering places, and targeted provincial/territorial government priorities have hampered the ability to carry out many activities as planned and contributed to a Public Accounts lapse of $23.2 million in grants and contributions under the Official Languages Programs.

o Development of Official-Language Communities Program ($20.2 million)
o Enhancement of Official Languages Program ($2.9 million)

• In order to mitigate the impact of this lapse on the Official Languages sector, a reprofile of funds of $21.3 million to fiscal year 2021-22 and 2022-23 was approved by the Department of Finance, leaving only $1.9 million (0.4%) of the total 2020-21 funding unspent:

o Development of Official-Language Communities Program ($18.4 million)
o Enhancement of Official Languages Program ($2.9 million)

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