Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the committee. I hope the presentation and the answers were informative, and I welcome the opportunity to come again.

Government Operations committee  Thank you.

Government Operations committee  We have a budget of 25 FTEs, in government lingo, but the actual number of people in the office fluctuates between 18 and 22. We have, like any other organization, departures and promotions.

Government Operations committee  Certainly, and thank you for the question. Let me begin by saying that I believe a large part of my responsibility and the office's responsibility is to educate. That's the first component of the pillars. As I've mentioned this afternoon, I believe that with respect to whether w

Government Operations committee  Thank you. Let me explain. As I mentioned earlier in response to a question on what has changed since the 1990s, a few years ago standing offers and supply arrangements for certain commodities became mandatory. That made things more efficient for departments. Rather than doing

Government Operations committee  I'm trying to understand what case you're referring to. It's on page 17?

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  In cases such as the one cited on page 17, our role under investigations is to reveal the facts. We use a recognized methodology to perform the investigation. We reveal and present the facts. Where we see that corrective action is required, we make recommendations. So the role of

Government Operations committee  I've thought about this. It bothered me when I heard about it. As I said to the staff, “We're Canadians; we don't send back soup when it's cold”. In my heart of hearts, I hope that's the issue. Intuitively I think it is. But until I get the information, I don't want to say.

Government Operations committee  It applies to the dispute around the terms and conditions of the contract.

Government Operations committee  The administration side....

Government Operations committee  That's a very good question. Allow me to ask Janet if she can....

Government Operations committee  If the chair will allow me, I'll turn to Janet Labelle, who's responsible. She just conducted a case in the Quebec region that would answer the question perfectly, I believe.

Government Operations committee  If I might add, that's a practice within the office. When we collect the data coming in from callers, from supplier complaints, we track to see if there's a trend. If there is a trend, as you say, that provides us with the grounds to launch a practice review, which is a more comp

Government Operations committee  Again, that is not within the mandate of the office.