ARCHIVED - Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal

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Section II - Analysis of Program Activities by Strategic Outcome

Strategic Outcome:
Constructive professional relations between artists and producers

Part II of the Act, and the collective bargaining regime set up under it, are intended to encourage constructive professional relations between artists and producers in federal jurisdiction. This is the sole strategic outcome under the Tribunal's Program Activity Architecture approved by Treasury Board for 2007-2008.

During fiscal 2007-2008, the Tribunal pursued two priorities in order to achieve this strategic outcome. It continued to focus on dealing with requests under the legislation with prompt and high quality service, and it strengthened its focus on fully informing and assisting clients.

The performance measurement framework for these priorities matches that presented in the Tribunal's Report on Plans and Priorities for 2007-2008. The performance results are reported below and shown in Tables A, B and C.

Priority 1: High-quality service

The level of case activity in 2007-2008 was similar to that in 2006-2007. The Tribunal made final decisions in 2 cases (one of which was resolved without a hearing) and made 3 interim decisions. At year's end, one case was pending. Details on the cases are presented in the Tribunal's annual report for 2007-2008 and its Information Bulletins, all available on the Tribunal's Web site at www.capprt-tcrpap.gc.ca.

As set out in the 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities,our performance measurement framework looks at promptness and quality of service.

Promptness refers to the time elapsed after a hearing to issue a decision, and the total time required to process applications.

In the one case for which it held a hearing before issuing its final decision, the Tribunal took 11 days to issue its decision after the hearing, well within its target of 60. For the average time required to process applications, the Tribunal fell short of its target, although the time was consistent with the average for the preceding 10 years⁴. These results are set out in Table A.

 

Table A - Prompt processing of cases

Indicator	Target	Results
Average time to issue reasons for a decision after the hearing in all cases	Maximum of 60 calendar days	50 days
Average time to process all cases (from the date of receipt of the completed application to the date of the decision)	Maximum of 200 calendar days	250 days

Quality in processing of cases refers to the work of staff, in preparing cases and providing legal advice, and in issuing decisions.

The indicator that has been used is the proportion of Tribunal decisions that are upheld under judicial review. Pursuant to the Status of the Artist Act, a party may, under specific circumstances, challenge a Tribunal decision by requesting a judicial review by the Federal Court of Appeal⁵.

As indicated in Table B, the Tribunal has met its objectives for this indicator. To date, only three of the Tribunal's 86 interim and final decisions have been challenged in this manner. Two requests for judicial review were dismissed by the Federal Court of Appeal, one in 1998-1999 and one in 2004-2005. The third request was withdrawn.

 

Table B - High-quality processing of cases

Indicator	Target	1996-2008
Percentage of applications for judicial review that have been granted	Less than 50 percent	0 percent

In the Report on Plans and Priorities for 2007-2008, the Tribunal committed to maintaining and strengthening its research function to support decision-making. This is a priority for the Tribunal because it deals continually with new issues, and its jurisprudence is largely innovative, requiring a strong research capacity to ensure that decisions are fair and reflect the realities of the client community. Tribunal staff continued developing research resources over the course of the fiscal year, meeting with producers and artists' associations and attending industry conferences, and facilitated information and training sessions for Tribunal members on developments in broadcasting and labour relations. The Tribunal's case management database was further developed and refined over the course of the year.

Priority 2: Clients fully informed and assisted

The Tribunal has a duty to ensure that artists, artists' associations and producers are fully aware of their rights and responsibilities under the Status of the Artist Act. For parties to benefit from the Act, for negotiations to take place and for the long-term objectives of the Act to be realized, the parties must fully understand the legislation.

This priority has always been treated seriously, but its importance has become more pronounced recently, and it was an area of focus in 2007-2008. The Tribunal recognizes that it needs to improve its relationship with artists' associations and producers, especially in view of the potential impact on the work of the Tribunal of current developments in broadcasting and new media. Broadcasting is one of the principal areas of the Tribunal's jurisdiction, and the challenges of transformations in the broadcasting industry - mergers, changes of ownership, new technologies, and the weakening of traditional business models - for artists' associations and broadcasters require new efforts from the Tribunal to facilitate certification and negotiation under the Act.

In its Report on Plans and Priorities for 2007-2008, the Tribunal committed to reorienting its communications activities and products, to emphasize information on how to do business with the Tribunal and on rights and obligations under the Status of the Artist Act. Following on this commitment, the Tribunal continued revising its information on its Web site, which received 42,507 hits during 2007-2008. Its information bulletin released in March 2008 provided information about developments at the Tribunal, a summary of a recent certification decision, and suggestions to help clients make full use of the Tribunal's services.

Also in the 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities, the Tribunal stated that it would look for alternatives to supplement or replace large-scale information sessions for clients, given the limited value of repeating these sessions. The Tribunal undertook to meet one-on-one with producers and artists' associations to exchange information - that is, to provide information about the Tribunal's services and to obtain information about client needs and the degree to which the Tribunal was meeting them.

The targets for informing and assisting clients, and the results, are set out in Table C and discussed below.

Table C - Clients fully informed and assisted

Indicator	Target	Results 2006 -2007	Results 2007-2008
Quality and timeliness of information bulletins	At least three information bulletins are issued annually. Clients are satisfied, as determined by client consulation.	Two bulletins were issued. Clients were not surveyed.	One bulletin was issued. Clients in consultation meetings indicated satisfaction.
Quality of the Tribunal's Web site.	The Web site contains timely and accurate information and meets GOL (Government On- Line) standards. Clients are satisfied (as determined by client survey).	The Web site was significantly amended to focus on client service. Information is timely and accurate. Clients were not surveyed.	The Web site was further developed, and received 42,507 hits. Information is timely and accurate. Clients in consultation meetings indicated satisfaction..
Information needs of clients determined	Consultation meetings are held with at least four artists' associations and four producers.	N/A: this approach was introduced in 2007-2008.	Consultation meetings were held with five artists' associations, two producers, and one producers' association (representing 106 producers).
Accuracy and timeliness of responses to inquiries and requests for information.	Inquiries and requests for information are dealt with within two working days. Clients are satisfied (multi-year average determined by client survey).	65% of inquiries and requests were dealt with within one working day. 85% were dealt with within 2 working days.	19 inquiries and requests were received. 17 were dealt with within one working day, and 2 within 2 working days.

One information bulletin was issued, rather than the targeted three. Information bulletins are intended primarily to advise the public of developments in the Tribunal's core work of dealing with cases brought before it, and one information bulletin was sufficient to address the number of cases. The usefulness of the Tribunal's information bulletins was confirmed in client consultation meetings.

The Act is still relatively recent and parties are still learning how to implement it, and this remains a principal communications objective of the Tribunal. Staff members have in the past held information sessions to clarify the obligations and rights of parties in bargaining under the Act, and to allow organizations to share their information and experiences with each other. The information sessions have been useful and well-received by clients. Because information sessions were held within the last three years with both artists' associations and producers, presentations were not held in the course of 2007-2008. Rather, the Tribunal's Communications Branch put its emphasis on more informal and focused meetings with clients from both the artists' and producers' communities. These meetings allowed the Tribunal to focus and identify the clients' information needs, and in fact to meet many of these needs during the course of the meetings. Both approaches, formal presentations and informal meetings, are useful, and the Tribunal will continue to use them both, as appropriate.

The nomination of a new Chairperson for a five-year mandate, which occurred shortly after the end of the 2007-2008 fiscal year, should contribute to the Tribunal's stability and to its favourable perception by its core clientele, the realization of its objective of augmenting the cultural community's awareness of their rights and responsibilities, and the promotion of the Tribunal at large.

The Tribunal receives many inquiries from or on behalf of artists, artists' associations, and producers, concerning, for example, their rights and obligations under the Status of the Artist Act or whether their activities fall within the Tribunal's jurisdiction. The Tribunal has undertaken to respond to each request on a timely basis and to assist parties. Accordingly, a performance indicator for the communications function is accuracy and timeliness of responses to enquiries and requests for information. The target of two working days for inquiries and requests for information was consistently met throughout 2007-2008.

Other indicators of progress

The Tribunal also uses other indicators, over multi-year periods, to monitor the achievement of constructive professional relations in the cultural sector. One is the proportion of complaints that are resolved without the necessity of a hearing by the Tribunal. Joint resolution of issues fosters cooperation between artists and producers, and saves time and money for the parties and the Tribunal by reducing the need for costly hearings. Accordingly, the Tribunal encourages parties to resolve as many issues as possible jointly before proceeding to a hearing, and the parties frequently find that they can resolve all the issues jointly. The Tribunal Secretariat provides assistance, where appropriate, through investigation and mediation, and in 2007-2008 emphasized augmenting staff's knowledge and skills in the issues facing the arts sector, so that the staff members are better able to meet the needs of clients.

Table D below shows the progress against this indicator. It should be noted that, as with many performance indicators, this is an approximate measure. Parties will withdraw complaints for various reasons. For example, sometimes the filing of a complaint will in itself bring the parties together to resolve the issue without any intervention of the Tribunal.

The negotiation of scale agreements is another indicator of constructive professional relations. Again, this is an approximate measure. The Tribunal can facilitate negotiations by granting certification, providing information about the Act's provisions for negotiations, and dealing with complaints of failure to bargain in good faith. It has little influence, however, over whether the parties actually pursue negotiations after certification, or over the results of such negotiations. Moreover, because there is no provision for first contract arbitration in the legislation, parties may be involved in bargaining for years without ever concluding an agreement.

With respect to the negotiation of scale agreements, a lot has been accomplished, if less than hoped for, as shown in Table D. Thirty-five percent of certified artists' associations have negotiated a new scale agreement within 5 years of certification, compared to the expected target of 80 percent. An additional 24 percent have negotiated a new agreement after the five-year target period. Forty-six percent of certified artists' associations have at least one outstanding notice to bargain a new agreement.

Table D - Constructive professional relations

Indicator	Target	Results 1998-1999 to 2007-2008
Percentage of complaints resolved without a hearing	At least 50% of all complaints are resolved without a hearing.	50% were resolved without a hearing.
Proportion of certified artists' associations with a first agreement within five years of certification.	A minimum of 80% of certified artists' associations negotiated at least one new scale agreement within five years of being certified.	35% have negotiated at least one new scale agreement within five years of certification. Another 24% have negotiated a new scale agreement more than five years after certification.

As the Tribunal has frequently noted in reports to Parliament, amendments to the Status of the Artist Act would make the Act more effective in achieving expected results. Various amendments recommended in the 2003 evaluation of the Act, such as requiring arbitration in specific situations for the settlement of first agreements, would facilitate the goal of successful negotiations following certification.

Financial Management and Leadership

As in previous years, the Tribunal used outsourcing and cost-saving agreements for many services not required on a full-time basis. For example, since the beginning of its operations, the Tribunal has contracted with the Department of Canadian Heritage for human resources services and with Industry Canada for informatics, security and mail services. It has arrangements with two other federal labour boards to use their hearing rooms and library services. It also contracts for the services of a financial analyst. It continues to select multi-skilled, flexible staff capable of handling a wide variety of responsibilities. The Tribunal members are part-time appointees. This is economically efficient on the whole, as they are called on and paid only as needed, although it can make scheduling more difficult. All Tribunal members are currently bilingual, which facilitates scheduling of hearings. The Tribunal continues to provide accommodation and administrative and financial services to Environmental Protection Review Canada, thereby lowering the overall costs to the government.

To improve its operational efficiency and its capability to measure performance, the Tribunal continued to refine its case management database over the course of 2007-2008.

The Tribunal continued to develop its management practices, working in a cluster group with three other small quasi-judicial agencies, the Competition Tribunal, the Copyright Board and the Transportation Appeal Tribunal. The cluster group focused on implementing the Internal Audit Policy, completing the implementation of the Public Service Modernization Act, and implementing the Travel AcXess Voyage Project (part of the Shared Travel Services Initiative).

The Tribunal has a code of values and ethics as well as policies on harassment and the internal disclosure of wrongdoing. It used the latter policy as the basis on which to build, in consultation with the cluster group, the administrative and managerial structures necessary to the implementation of the Public Service Disclosure Protection Act. In order to foster good labour-management relations, the Tribunal also participated in an umbrella Labour-Management Consultation Committee for small agencies and micro-agencies.

Using its evaluation framework developed in 2005-2006 and following the guidance of the Centre of Excellence for Evaluation, the Tribunal continued to work on applying the government's evaluation policy in the context of a micro-agency, collecting performance information concerning its responsiveness to requests for assistance, the effectiveness of its communications products, and the timeliness of its case processing.

The Tribunal integrated its human resources and business planning in 2006-2007 by developing a Strategic Human Resources Plan and a Staffing Management Accountability Framework. In 2007-2008, it worked on implementing the Policy on Learning, Training and Development. It also monitored staffing actions in relation to its staffing strategies and plans, although the small number of positions and of staffing actions hardly justifies the term "statistics" and makes identification of trends or tendencies difficult.

The Treasury Board Secretariat assessed the Tribunal's compliance with the Management Accountability Framework (MAF) in 2007-2008, and concluded that the Tribunal adheres to the practices and underlying principles for strong public sector management. It also identified some opportunities for improvement, including better alignment of the language and indicators between the Report on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Report, annual updates of the Tribunal's risk profile, a review of the Tribunal's information practices to ensure compliance with the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, and attention to succession planning. The Tribunal appreciates the assistance of the TBS in identifying these opportunities for improvement, and is taking measures to address them.

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