2005 September Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

Government-wide direction

7.25 The Privy Council Office should assign the responsibility of providing sustainable development direction to departments to a specific body, and regularly monitor its progress. For the 2007 strategies, the body should develop

• a federal sustainable development strategy that involves ministers,
• guidance on structure and reporting,
• an easily accessible way to search the strategies, and
• an annual report on government-wide progress toward sustainable development. (7.16-7.24)

The Privy Council Office (PCO) agrees with the recommendation for greater direction to assist departments in the development of their respective sustainable development strategies. To achieve this, the Prime Minister established the Ad Hoc Cabinet Committee on Sustainability and the Environment in October 2004, which is in turn supported by a committee of deputy ministers, as well as by PCO in its role as secretariat to the Cabinet. The Ad Hoc Committee has a clear mandate to deliver a federal sustainable development strategy that will guide the government's overall actions.

Each federal department is required under the Auditor General Act to develop its own sustainable development strategy, which ensures that ministers are accountable for tailoring strategies to the specific challenges of their departments. A federal sustainable development strategy, to be completed by mid 2006, will help ensure an overall federal approach to sustainable development and broad consistency of departmental goals.

7.28 The Privy Council Office should include in the annual performance agreements of deputy ministers the commitment to develop, implement, and monitor a sustainable development strategy that would achieve significant progress toward sustainable development. The Privy Council Office should also ensure that deputy ministers include the same provision in the annual performance agreements of assistant deputy ministers with significant sustainable development responsibilities. (7.26-7.27)

Sustainable development continues to be specifically mentioned as a key objective in the performance contracts of those deputy ministers for whom sustainable development is a core element of their work. Deputy ministers are asked to translate this priority into the performance contracts of their assistant deputy ministers. More broadly, sustainable development is also considered part of the ongoing delegated responsibilities of all deputy ministers in managing their organizations, which is currently measured as part of the Performance Management Program for Deputy Ministers.

7.30 Environment Canada should clearly articulate the role of the Competitiveness and Environmental Sustainability Framework, and how it will involve departmental sustainable development strategies. (7.29)

Agreed. The Competitiveness and Environmental Sustainability Framework (CESF) is a Government of Canada initiative, led by Environment Canada, to address in a coherent and integrated manner the environmental and sustainability challenges facing Canadians. In November 2004, the Ad Hoc Committee of Cabinet on Sustainability and the Environment endorsed the development of a national framework on environmental sustainability under the CESF approach. The Ad Hoc Committee will also oversee its implementation. The CESF will take an integrated and comprehensive approach to a full range of sustainability challenges, linking policy with action in such areas as climate change, environmental stewardship, health and environment, and sustainable communities.

The Deputy Ministers' Policy Committee on Environment and Sustainability, formed in the spring of 2005, has been charged with the further elaboration and implementation of a national framework on environmental sustainability, which will be implemented under the CESF approach. The Committee has also been charged with advancing federal house-in-order efforts, including the next generation of federal sustainable development strategies. Sustainable development strategies will be a key interdepartmental mechanism for implementation of the CESF, providing co-ordinated departmental delivery of the framework's "whole of government" approach. The CESF will enable departmental sustainable development strategies to take a more integrated and collaborative approach, based on common federal environment and sustainability priorities.

7.32 In order to improve the 2007 sustainable development strategies, the Privy Council Office should assign responsibility for a lessons-learned exercise on how to better use the strategies to achieve sustainable development, and act on the results. (7.31)

The Privy Council Office (PCO) agrees that ongoing review and reform are key to ensuring government policies, programs, and operations are sustainable. Within this context, PCO considers the ongoing evaluation of departmental sustainable development strategies to be important.

In September 2004, the Deputy Minister of Environment Canada was asked to consider how such an exercise could be undertaken. An interdepartmental lessons-learned exercise was launched in December 2004 through the Interdepartmental Network on Sustainable Development Strategies, building on independently conducted departmental reviews, to identify best practices and key challenges.

With respect to the 2007 strategies, the Committee of Deputy Ministers on the Environment and Sustainability has been clearly mandated with advancing the next generation of federal sustainable development strategies. In this regard, the interdepartmental lessons-learned exercise will support the work of the Committee of Deputy Ministers on the Environment and Sustainability.