Annual Report on Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures

Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat 2023 - 2024

As required by the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on travel, hospitality and conference expenditures for Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024.

Travel, hospitality and conference expenditures incurred by a federal department or agency relate to activities that support the department or agency’s mandate and the government’s priorities.

Mandate:

The mandate of the CICS is to support federal, provincial and territorial governments in the planning and conduct of senior level intergovernmental conferences held across Canada. The primary objective of the CICS is to relieve client departments of the numerous technical and administrative tasks associated with the planning and conduct of multilateral conferences, thereby enabling participants to concentrate on substantive intergovernmental policy issues. The CICS provides continuous, effective, impartial administrative services to these meetings.

Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures for Year ending March 31, 2024

Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures
Expenditure category	Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2024 ($ thousands)	Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2023 ($ thousands)	Variance ($ thousands)
Travel
Operational activities	$448.78	$438.52	$10.26
Key stakeholders	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Internal governance	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Training	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Other	$0.00	$0.05	-$0.05
A. Total travel	$448.78	$438.57	$10.21
B. Hospitality	$0.61	$0.86	-$0.25
C. Conference fees	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total [A+B+C]	$449.39	$439.43	$9.96
International travel by minister and minister's staff (included in travel)	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Explanation of significant variances compared with previous fiscal year

Total travel:

In 2023-24, The total travel costs were approximately $10,000 higher than the previous year. This increase is due to a rise in the number of in-person conferences organized, travel expenses for new employees undergoing on-site training to better support the agency, and travel to Ottawa in accordance with the Interim Standard on Occasional Travel to a Designated Worksite.

Hospitality:

Compared to fiscal 2022-23, the CICS’ hospitality expenses saw a slight decrease, primarily due to reduced spending on food for all-staff gatherings and Executive retreat and GCWCC events and during National Public Service Week.

Conference fees:

There were no expenditures relating to conference fees.