Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thanks to our witnesses as well for being here today.
The government has accepted the recommendations made by the Auditor General in the spring 2011 report and updates. The Office of the Auditor General provides an important challenge function to ensure the best possible outcome for taxpayers.
My questions are for the interim Auditor General. There have been some questions raised by the opposition as to why the border infrastructure fund was used for the G-8 legacy projects. I would like to address that by quoting my colleague, the Hon. John Baird, who said, “Public Servants in my department made a recommendation we could use the Border Infrastructure Fund as an existing authority so we could move expeditiously.” He goes on to say that he accepts responsibility for that decision.
Mr. Wiersema, you too were quoted as saying that the evidence you saw suggested that this was done for matters of expediency. Is that correct?