Finance committee  Sure. This division has two groups of clauses. The first section of clauses, from 170 to 192, amends a number of acts to eliminate the requirement for the Auditor General of Canada to undertake annual financial audits of certain entities and to assess the performance reports of t

Finance committee  Currently, these organizations receive a financial audit on an annual basis by the Auditor General. They are also captured by the Auditor General's audit of the government as a whole through the summary financial statements. To that extent, there is some duplication happening.

Finance committee  I suppose you have a more detailed set of audits. The level of detail of the financial audits would be probably more in-depth currently. However, when the Auditor General audits the statements of the government as a whole, they look at all organizations and look at the risk param

Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  Yes, the Auditor General did initiate this change. He proposed it to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts back in October. Again, it's consistent with a directive from Treasury Board that department-by-department financial audits are not required. It was deemed that this i

Finance committee  That is exactly correct. He did propose these changes in the context of adhering to the spirit of the government review. It constitutes part of a broader set of cost-saving measures that they are putting forward on their own initiative, to be consistent.

Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Yes. These legislative changes will allow them to be consistent.

Finance committee  Yes, he did.

Finance committee  Not higher-risk—

Finance committee  The AG considered including CRA in this, but on further consultation with CRA, they concluded that given the nature of CRA and its centrality to government accounts, it made sense for them to maintain an annual in-depth audit of CRA.

Finance committee  No. The Auditor General was not part of the review base. He was requested to look for efficiencies wherever he could, as were other departments and agencies that were not part of the review base. This is what he concluded. The motivation also is, to go back to your premise, a

Finance committee  It is possible that they have been looking at this for some time. I know that in the case of the decision to cease the assessment of performance reports, this is something they have been considering for some time, but the opportunity arose at this juncture.

Finance committee  The AG, as well as a number of other organizations, was not part of the formal review base, but of course it was deemed appropriate by the minister to request a voluntary examination of efficiencies, and the responses to that request varied according to the results of those revie