Good.
I know certainly this makeup of the committee is determined that the number is going to go up. You go to all that work, we spend all that taxpayers' money, we do all that work, and we hold all the hearings. I think we do some good, non-partisan work here. We have our moments, but mostly we try to be non-partisan. And then nothing happens. So I'll remain positive that we'll get there, but it's going to be a continuing challenge.
Chair, could I ask the clerk to make a note that at the appropriate time I'd like to make a motion that we request that particular Treasury Board report that the Auditor General referred to? That will come up at the end.
Next, congratulations on being the official representative—I love the name of this organization—of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions. You would be their representative to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board of the International Federation of Accountants. Wow. It's a good thing you don't have to wear that on a re-election button, let me tell you. And then, further, you've been named as another chair, and I won't get into that acronym. But you do acknowledge that you'll be away a little bit as a result of that, which twigs my question.
Number one, I'm pleased you're there. I think that's important, not so much for you personally, although that's a part of it, but more importantly Canada needs to be there. How we interact with the world is different from the rest of the world in terms of our needs because of our geography, our economy, and the fact that we have people from virtually everywhere on the planet. And Canada tries to be seen as a country that is helpful to the world in terms of developing civil society, etc., so I'm big on our being there. We need to be out in the world, if Canada is going to be as successful as it can be.
Having said that and having served at three orders of government, I do know that from time to time senior managers join so many provincial, national, and international organizations that their main job starts to become a smaller and smaller part of the work they do; they're out there doing great, grandiose things, but they're not ambassadors, and they've sort of become that.
You have a unique position in that there is no one individual you report to, being an officer of Parliament. May I have your thoughts not on you personally but on how we gauge this, as the accountable body to the person in your position? And I would extend this even to deputies and senior managers, although they have ministers responsible. But what kinds of criteria do you think there should be in terms of how a senior person like yourself divides up their time between their main responsibilities and some of these more external ones, recognizing that as politicians we do that all the time, too, as we're delegates to various bodies? What are your thoughts on that, please?