Annual Report on Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada 2021 - 2022

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 Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022.

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 OPC is overseeing compliance with both the Privacy Act, which covers the personal information-handling practices of federal government institutions, and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canada’s federal private sector privacy law, along with some aspects of Canada’s anti-spam law (CASL).

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures for Year ending March 31, 2022

Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures

Expenditure category

Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2022 ($ thousands)

Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2021 ($ thousands)

Variance ($ thousands)
Travel

Operational activities

$15.80

$3.00

$12.80

Key stakeholders

$3.00

$0.00

$3.00

Internal governance

$0.00

$0.00

$0.00

Training

$0.50

$0.00

$0.50

Other

$2.10

$4.70

-$2.60
A. Total travel

$21.40

$7.70

$13.70
B. Hospitality

$1.20

$0.10

$1.10
C. Conference fees

$2.80

$0.40

$2.40
Total [A+B+C]

$25.40

$8.20

$17.20
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:

As with other government departments and agencies, the pandemic continues to have an impact on how the OPC is operating and delivering on its mandate. The OPC remained operational and continued serving Canadians and supporting its internal programs throughout the pandemic while respecting public health guidelines. In this regard, we were able to rise to the challenge and remain fully operational by working remotely and attending training, conference and meetings with stakeholders virtually. While remote work continues to be effective for the OPC, some stakeholder interactions and investigations do benefit from an in-person component. As public health restrictions have continued to ease in 2021-2022, the OPC has resumed some in-person activities where appropriate. This resulted in increased travel expenses in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21, slightly increasing the OPC’s expenditures for travel, hospitality and conferences. As the OPC transitions to a hybrid workplace, it will continue to work towards actively leveraging technology to perform its investigations and manage its expenditures for travel, hospitality and conferences.

Hospitality:

-

Conference fees:

-

Minister and minister’s exempt staff - International travel:

-