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Section II — Analysis of Program Activities By Strategic Outcome

2.1 Analysis by Program Activity

Agency Strategic Outcome Performance Indicators

Strategic Outcome: Transparent, fair and timely dispute resolution and economic regulation of the national transportation system.

Performance Indicator	Target	Date to Achieve Target
Feedback from users of, service providers within, and others affected by the national transportation system on perceived transparency, fairness, and efficiency of the decision-making process.	Surveys to be implemented in order to establish benchmarks.	2009-2010
	Implementation of subsequent surveys	2010-2011
Percentage of discretionary rulings overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal on basis of procedural fairness.	0%	Ongoing
Percentage of cases resolved within prescribed time limits.	Disputes resolved formally: 65% resolved within 120 days. Determinations: 95% issued within 120 days. Licences: 85% issued within 14 days.	April 2011
	Charter permits: 92% issued within 30 days. Mediation: 100% completed within 30 days (when no extension is requested).	Ongoing

2.1.1 Program Activity 1: Economic Regulation

Program Activity: Economic Regulation

Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($000s)
2010-2011		2011–2012		2012–2013
FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending
120	12,809	119	12,813	119	12,813

Expected Results	Performance Indicators	Targets	Target Date
Economic and other interests of transportation users, service providers and other affected parties are protected.	Measures of satisfaction with Agency services related to serving the needs of users of, service providers within and others affected by the national transportation system.	Surveys to be implemented in order to establish benchmarks.	2009-2010
		Implementation of subsequent surveys and measurement against benchmarks.	2010-2011
Regulatory authorities required to operate publicly available air services are issued on a timely basis upon meeting the regulatory requirements.	Percentage of charter permits issued within 30 days.	92%	Ongoing
Regulatory authorities required to operate publicly available air services are issued on a timely basis upon meeting the regulatory requirements.	Percentage of licences issued within 14 days.	85%	April 2011
Regulatory authorities required to operate publicly available air services are issued on a timely basis upon meeting the regulatory requirements.	Percentage of international code-sharing authorities issued within 45 days.	100%	April 2011
Regulatory authorities required to operate publicly available air services are issued on a timely basis upon meeting the regulatory requirements.	Percentage of extra-bilateral authorities issued within 30 days.	85%	April 2011
Compliance with the Canada Transportation Act and its attendant regulations.	Percentage of compliance with the requirements to hold a valid licence, insurance and Air Operator Certificate, as determined by inspections.	100%	Ongoing
Enhanced monitoring of and compliance with accessibility regulations and codes of practice.	Level of compliance with accessibility provisions.	Conduct monitoring and report on compliance.	Ongoing
The Agency efficiently protects the interests of operators of Canadian registered ships while allowing access to foreign ships when suitable Canadian registered ships are not available.	Percentage of applications processed prior to the commencement date when no offer is made.	95%	Ongoing
Environmental, economic and social impacts of railway construction projects, railway lines and yards are mitigated.	Percentage compliance with prescribed mitigation conditions as determined on follow-up.	100%	Ongoing
Regulatory authorities required in railway operations are issued on a timely basis upon meeting the regulatory requirements.	Percentage of determinations issued prior to specified timeline of 120 days.	95%	April 2011

Program Activity Summary

This program activity is responsible for the economic regulation of the national transportation system. It is responsible for a wide range of matters involving air, rail and marine modes of transportation under the legislative authority of Parliament, and, for certain accessibility matters, extra-provincial bus transportation. The program derives its authority from the Canada Transportation Act, as well as other laws and regulations that it is mandated to administer.

Its role can be best depicted along a continuum, in which the transportation policies emanating from the legislative and executive branches of the Government of Canada are implemented in an impartial and sound manner by the Agency as a quasi-judicial body.

Body Responsible	Parliament, Government, Minister	Agency	Agency	Agency
Instrument	Laws, directives, policies, regulations	Regulations, codes of practice, guidelines	Decisions, orders, rules	Warnings, administrative penalties
Function	Policy-making	Regulation	Determinations	Enforcement

The program has two main functions:

• industry determinations: to make determinations or to provide authorities on specific cases or applications as per the applicable legislative/regulatory requirements; and
• industry regulation: to develop and implement regulations, guidance documents and codes of practice to reflect transportation policies and clarify the Agency's expectations to industry participants, and provide a sound procedural foundation for rendering specific decisions.

The scope of responsibilities of the Economic Regulation program is broad and varied. Within the context of a pro-competitive transportation policy framework, responsibilities extend to targeted aspects of the national transportation system, as follows:

• Market entry – ensures that entrants into the Canadian transportation marketplace meet basic public policy requirements;
• Market behaviour – protects the interests of shippers, travellers, persons with disabilities, and other parties; and
• Market exit – determines conditions under which carriers can or must exit certain markets.

Applications handled by the program vary greatly in complexity and volume. However, the vast majority of applications involve only one party, which is seeking an authorization or determination from the Agency. Further information regarding this program can be found at http://www.otc-cta.gc.ca/doc.php?sid=4&lang=eng

Planning Highlights and Benefits for Canadians

The Agency will continue focusing its attention on the following two goals:

• managing caseload in a sound, responsive, timely and efficient manner; and
• maintaining up-to-date, relevant and clear Agency regulatory frameworks.

Managing caseload in a sound, responsive, timely and efficient manner

To properly manage the program's caseload in a sound, responsive, timely and efficient manner, the following actions will be pursued in 2010-2011:

• a continued focus on streamlining processes for determinations and routine decisions, where possible;
• beginning implementation of the three-year plan for documenting and streamlining the approach/procedures for managing the caseload in each of the main lines of business. This also includes documentation that is necessary to effectively support decision-making, and make measurable progress in priority areas; and
• monitoring performance measures and improving performance management tools by addressing gaps in performance and adjusting targets accordingly.

Maintaining up-to-date, relevant and clear Agency regulatory frameworks

The Agency will review and update, where appropriate, existing regulations, codes of practice and guidelines over the next few years to ensure they are up to date, relevant and clear. In 2010-2011 the following activities will be the focus of the branch:

• developing and implementing regulations to selectively increase foreign ownership in Canadian airlines from 25% to 49%;
• issuing a notice to clarify the Agency's approach to determining whether an air carrier is controlled in fact by Canadians;
• reviewing the cost of capital methodology used for regulatory determinations in the rail sector;
• modernizing the first tranche of the Air Transportation Regulations to bring them in line with the existing legislative framework and advancing the work on the remaining two tranches;
• initiating a process to include certain provisions related to rail transportation in  the Designated Provisions Regulations where contravention could be subject to a monetary penalty;
• finalizing a plain language guidance document for air carrier tariffs to contribute to clear and simple tariffs that meet the needs of air carriers, transportation users and the regulator;
• working towards modernizing the Railway Costing Regulations; and
• working towards a new guidance document on Net Salvage Value Determination.

2.1.2 Program Activity 2: Adjudication and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Program Activity: Dispute Resolution

Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($000s)
2010-2011		2011–2012		2012–2013
FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending
65	7,006	65	7,043	65	7,042

Expected Results	Performance Indicators	Targets	Target Date
Access to a specialized dispute resolution system that is cost-effective, responsive, fair and timely, and serves the needs of users, service providers and other affected parties within the national transportation system.	Measures of satisfaction with Agency services related to serving the needs of users of, service providers within and others affected by the national transportation system.	Surveys to be implemented in order to establish benchmarks.	2009-2010
		Implementation of subsequent surveys.	2010-2011
The Agency efficiently resolves complaints on air services, weighing the evidence submitted by the parties.	Percentage of disputes resolved formally within 120 days.	70%	April 2011
The Agency efficiently resolves complaints about obstacles to the mobility of persons with disabilities, weighing the interests of persons with disabilities with those of the industry in assessing whether the obstacle is undue.	Percentage of disputes resolved formally within 120 days	50%	April 2011
The Agency efficiently resolves disputes by determining whether pilotage charges are in the public interest and whether port fees and seaway tolls are not unjustly discriminatory.	Percentage of disputes resolved formally within 120 days.	70%	Ongoing
The Agency efficiently protects the interests of operators of Canadian registered ships while allowing access to foreign ships when suitable Canadian ships are not available.	Percentage of applications processed within 90 days when an offer is made.	80%	April 2011
The Agency efficiently resolves disputes between shippers, farmers, landowners, road authorities, utility companies, all levels of government and railway companies.	Percentage of disputes resolved formally within 120 days.	75%	April 2011

Program Activity Summary

The Agency has the jurisdiction to resolve transportation issues affecting air, rail and marine modes of transportation under the legislative authority of Parliament, as well as matters relating to the accessibility of the system to persons with disabilities.

Applicants seeking the Agency's assistance range from affected users, such as passengers and shippers, to transportation service providers, municipalities, road authorities, landowners and other affected parties. Applications cover a wide variety of matters. Some matters are relatively simple and can be dealt with quickly while others are more complex and may take many months, even years to resolve. The Agency is guided by various Acts and regulations. In all cases, the Agency strives to issue balanced and fair decisions that take into consideration Agency precedents and that respect the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Disputes are resolved by a variety of methods: through informal facilitation by Agency staff, through Agency-appointed mediators, through an arbitration process administered by the Agency, or through the Agency's formal adjudicative process.

Resolving disputes in a fair, transparent and timely manner helps achieve a competitive, efficient and accessible transportation system and helps meet the needs of users, service providers and other affected parties. Further information regarding this program can be found at http://www.otc-cta.gc.ca/doc.php?sid=3&lang=eng.

Planning Highlights and Benefits to Canadians

The Agency encourages parties to work together to resolve issues in a collaborative fashion. Therefore, the Agency will continue to promote the use of informal dispute resolution processes in 2010-2011. Voluntary and informal processes are generally faster, more effective and less costly than formal adjudication, and as such the Agency aims to resolve disputes using these alternative dispute resolution methods. For cases that go to adjudication, the Agency will continue to work on improving the timeliness for resolving formal disputes. In an effort to determine the appropriate timeliness and resources required to resolve a dispute, the Agency will review its informal and formal processes and procedures in order to develop criteria on which to base the level of complexity for each case.

This program activity will also focus on providing generic training for its case officers, which will accelerate cross-training on dispute resolution between transportation modes. This will enable the program to allocate resources where needed as workload change among transportation modes.

Agency performance on dispute resolution will be monitored through its case tracking system so that modifications and adjustments can be made as appropriate.

There will also be a focus on the following initiatives in 2010-2011:

• issuing a methodology, through its Technical Advisory Committee, for measuring and assessing railway noise;
• releasing of decisions on whether applicants with allergies are considered persons with disabilities for the purpose of Part V of the Canada Transportation Act and whether they encountered undue obstacles to their mobility; and
• finalizing the development of further communication material explaining the Agency's process in handling accessibility complaints in order to assist parties in these types of transportation disputes.

2.1.3 Program Activity 3: Internal Services

Program Activity: Internal Services

Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($000s)
2010-2011		2011–2012		2012–2013
FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending
76	7,496	75	7,487	75	7,467

Program Activity Summary

Internal Services support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of the Agency and are key supports in the Agency's achievement of its mandate and plans and priorities. They apply across the Agency and are not specific to a program. This includes management and oversight services; communications services; legal services; human resources management services; financial management services; information management services; information technology services; real property services; materiel services; acquisition services; and travel and other administrative services.

Planning Highlights and Benefits to Canadians

In 2010-2011, the Agency will focus on the following initiatives:

• annual review of the 2008-2011 Strategic Plan which is available at:
  http://www.otc-cta.gc.ca/doc.php?sid=2005&lang=eng. In addition, the Agency will establish priorities and actions for the 2011–2014 Strategic Plan;
• optimizing the organization's stakeholder outreach activities by building on established and ongoing stakeholder dialogue initiatives and seeking out new approaches and opportunities;
• analyzing and reporting on baseline client satisfaction survey data (from the initial year 2009–10) and roll-out of automated online survey tools for larger target groups;
• committing to sound risk management practices. The Agency will update its Risk Management Policy, including the Risk Management Framework and the Corporate Risk Profile;
• developing and implementing a knowledge management and knowledge transfer framework for the Agency to enhance employee development and to ensure that corporate knowledge and expertise are preserved;
• implementation of actions in response to the Public Service Employee and other employee feedback to attract and retain a diverse workforce, foster a dynamic, creative working environment and improve employee engagement;
• expanding and improving Agency systems providing services directly to Agency clients, including Intranet and public Web sites;
• undertake external client satisfaction research to support service improvement delivery initiatives; and
• improving governance and management processes to strengthen organizational capacity and ensure clear accountability for results, including the development of a governance framework for the Internet and Intranet; an IM policy and an IT investment and system strategy; and a legacy storage system for Agency decisions.

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