Federal Attendance 2017

The table below contains information that will assist federal public servants wishing to register for attendance at a Canadian Public Sector Excellence Fair. Justification information is being researched and will be added to this page in due course.

Attendance at Canadian Public Sector Excellence Fairs by Federal Public Servants
The federal Treasury Board directive establishes requirements regarding conference/event attendance. The annual Excellence Fair is a single event and is believed to be characterized as an event by the Treasury Board. The fact that the Fair is a training opportunity does not change that characterization. 

Senior departmental manager approval is required when the event has total departmental or agency costs of $5,000 or less (Directive clause 4.2.4)

The manager may have delegated authority to spend up to $5,000, without Deputy Ministerial approval [This needs to be verified before Fair registration steps are taken]. If authorized, in practice this means they can:

  • Send 5 people to the Fair at the Early Bird 1 rate of $1,540, or more at the rate of $308 per person – providing the additional persons are included in the initial Group of 5;
  • If Early Bird 1 is no longer available, 5 people can be sent to the Fair at the Early Bird 2 rate of $1,870, or more at the rate of $374 per person – providing the additional persons are included in the initial Group of 5; and
  • If approval cannot be obtained before January 11, 2015, 5 people can be sent to the Fair at the full rate of $2,200, or more at the rate of $440 per person – providing the additional persons are included in the initial Group of 5.

Deputy Head aproval is required when the total departmental costs of the event exceeds $5,000 but are $25,000 or less. (Directive Clause 4.2.3).

*The Treasury Board Guideline on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures may be found here: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=27518