I now call this eighth meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to order.
Colleagues, as per our previous decision, today we are formally receiving from the House the 2013 Fall Report of the Auditor General of Canada.
May I just mention that we have officials here from Ghana and Tanzania who are on a 10-month attachment to the Office of the Auditor General under its international fellowship program. We also have an official from the Australian national audit office, who is on a one-month secondment to the OAG.
On behalf of all colleagues, I extend a welcome to all our guests. I hope you enjoy your time with us today, and in Canada.
Welcome.
I think it's worth noting, colleagues, that Canada, public accounts, and the Office of the Auditor General continue to receive a fair bit of attention, particularly from many emerging democracies as they're looking to set up their auditor general system and the public accounts piece that goes with it.
Internationally, we have been to Burma and Jamaica, working with those countries, but we've also been receiving a lot of international delegates, and I think that will continue as long as we continue to provide as close to the gold standard as possible.
In terms of the work of the Office of the Auditor General and its partnership with the public accounts committee, we will continue to be seen as a model of public accounts, accountability and transparency. We're not perfect by any means. We're still pursuing and struggling and trying to get better and better, but make no mistake that there are an awful lot of countries that are looking at the office and at this committee and saying that's where they want to get to. They want to get to this level of transparency and accountability. The work here goes beyond just the borders of our own country, colleagues.
I would also remind everyone that on Monday we will be doing committee business.
Unless there are any interventions, and I don't see any, we'll proceed with the orders of the day. For the newer members of the committee, the process is very similar to the informal meeting we held yesterday morning.
I will turn the floor over to the Auditor General. He will read his opening statement, and then we will begin the rotation in the usual fashion. We'll continue until we've exhausted the speakers list.
With that, I will now formally turn the floor over to the Auditor General of Canada, Mr. Michael Ferguson.
You, sir, now have the floor.