The Prime Minister’s office delivered a new mandate letter to Minister of Citizens’ Service Terry Beech, giving the new minister an official list of priorities three months after his appointment.

The responsibilities are generally aligned with improving the ‘service experience’ of Canadians when dealing directly with government operations, rather than broader responsibilities. The unexpected establishment of the cabinet position followed many publicized accounts of failures of the delivery of expected services – passport renewals for example – because of antiquated technology.

The mandate letter contains some references to specific programs, including bolstering the role of the government’s citizen-facing Service Canada in delivering services. It specifically references the Canadian Dental Care Plan as one of those priority initiatives. It also lists improving civil servant competence by providing support to the Public Service Skills Strategy, and “identifying, recruiting and retaining employees with digital and customer service experience, including at management levels.”

It outlines a close working relationship with the Treasury Board. Of the 11 bullet-pointed priorities, four reference working with the Board.

In recent public opportunities prior to the mandate letter, Beech had also described more responsibilities around the delivery of specific services to Canadians. At an autumn news conference following the release of Auditor General reports, Beech called the upgrade of the Benefits Delivery Modernization system “the single most ambitious IT transformation project that the government of Canada has ever embarked upon.”

Beech also told reporters that 600,000 Old Age Security files had transitioned to the systems, and that “we want to reduce administrative red tape, automate processes and reduce the need to wait in line or wait on hold on the phone.”