Environment committee  The commissioner will be Mr. Thompson.

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  That's correct.

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  Absolutely not. The government respects the independence of the Office of the Auditor General. We are what is known as a separate employer. We hire our own people. We have our own classifications, and government has nothing to do with our personnel issues.

Environment committee  No.

Environment committee  I would be pleased to appear before the committee at whatever time suits you, Mr. Chairman.

Environment committee  She does not have a mandate.

Environment committee  No.

Environment committee  As I'm sure you're aware, we cannot discuss personnel issues in any way, so I will not be making any comments about her departure. She has asked that we keep her plans confidential, and I intend to respect that. As for the review, given the fact that she is leaving that positio

Environment committee  No, no.

Environment committee  I know there is great reluctance to get into the substance of all of this in an in camera meeting. I would just say that I have absolutely no concerns, no problems at all, with the work that has been reported by the commissioner, because it has been reported on behalf of the Audi

Environment committee  Mr. Chair, I would just like to say that I would very much like to come back and discuss this with the committee. We would like to get a sense of whether this is an issue for the committee or not. But if I could just ask that we do this after the announcement comes out about the

Environment committee  If members would rather.... We have always gone on the principle that we should always inform parliamentarians before we inform the general public and the media. We would never send out something to the media if we haven't informed parliamentarians first.

Environment committee  I believe we had established a date around February 15. We'd be glad if members would like to do it sooner than that, to see if there are dates that are available before that.