Public Accounts committee  I believe, Mr. Chairman, from the perspective of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, a legislative base for many of the programs Michael and his department, and other federal departments, deliver is part of the solution, as well as some information on the outcomes and se

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, perhaps I'd ask Mr. Campbell, who's closer to the specifics of the work, to respond to the question. Ronnie.

Public Accounts committee  We finished our audit work in November 2010. At that time Michael and his department were moving towards multi-year funding agreements. Perhaps it's best if I ask Mr. Wernick to talk about that, about where they stand at this point.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, I'll ask Mr. Campbell to elaborate in a moment, but in terms of potential solutions dealing with how the federal government funds these services, there are two things that come to mind. Earlier this week this committee heard from the Treasury Board Secretariat and

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair. The former Auditor General, in recognition of the importance of first nations programs, their size, their significance, and the challenges facing government, very early in her mandate identified aboriginal issues as one of her focus areas.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good afternoon to members of the committee. As I think you know, my name is John Wiersema and I am the interim Auditor General. With me today are Ronnie Campbell, assistant Auditor General, and Frank Barrett. Ronnie and Frank have been the individua

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for this opportunity to discuss chapter 4 of our 2011 status report, “Programs for First Nations on Reserves”. Over the past 10 years, the Office of the Auditor General has audited a broad range of services and federal activities affecting

Public Accounts committee  I would say, Mr. Chairman, that 90% plus of our performance audit work comprises our auditing of management performance against government policies. So the vast, vast majority of our work is done against government's own policies. Where we're auditing something that may not be th

Public Accounts committee  The answers, Mr. Chairman, are yes and yes, that is, yes to both. I would like to believe that this committee has confidence in the Office of the Auditor General, in the rigour of our planning processes. I can assure you we are very rigorous in terms of assessing government opera

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Chairman. In the interest of time, I won't go through the audit process in total, but there are a couple of really important steps in the process. At the start of every audit of a department, we prepare and send to the department what w

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman. A typical performance audit could take 12 to 18 months to carry out from start to finish, from the planning of the work to the ultimate tabling of the report in Parliament. The number of staff involved can vary from as few as three or fo

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, at a strictly legal and technical level, we present our reports to the Speaker of the House of Commons, who tables them in the House of Commons, and those reports are referred to this committee by standing order. So right off the bat, this committee is our key point

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question. Mr. Chairman, as I indicated when I talked about this, we are in the process of finalizing the review of the office, so it would be premature for me to get into too many of the specifics. Michelle talked about the strategic review and the operating

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman. The member is referring to a meeting that takes place once a year by the Canadian Council of Public Accounts Committees and the Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors. All the auditors general of Canada and the provinces get together o

Public Accounts committee  Yes, Mr. Chairman, the Government of Canada is quite transparent in its financial reporting. Yes.