We did an audit of the governance of crown corporations in 2005. We looked at what were best practices at the time in the private sector as well, and in other governments around the world. The real issue comes back to making sure that you have the competencies and the skills around the table to be able to fulfill the role of board of directors for what are very large, very complex organizations.
The process put in place at the time appeared to us to be--on paper, certainly--a good one. The boards would develop profiles. Those would be submitted. There was also discussion about setting up--I believe it has been established, but it may not be actually be functioning--a commission or an independent group that could receive applications from people, that would use search firms to go out and get people. The boards themselves were using search firms to go out and identify possible candidates, then would recommend a certain number of names, two or three names, to the government. Then the government could pick.
As long as there's rigour and you're really looking for people with the right competencies, that appears to us to be a reasonable process. I think there are other ways of doing it as well, but it's important that the board be involved in the selection. They know what they need around the table.
To have the board involved in the selection of the president is, I think, absolutely essential. We have recommended...and we saw several examples of where the board was very actively involved in the search process. Board members, such as the chair, would participate in the interviews and be a very active part of the selection.
I think that system can work well. I'm not saying that the other system, where the board picks, doesn't work; I guess I would just be a little cautious. We have some examples of where the board is largely made up of people from the private sector who may not be fully cognizant of some of the issues of a public sector corporation. If there isn't that kind of accountability back to a minister or to government, the government has to find another way to make sure that those board members and the president are fully cognizant of the issues in working in a public sector environment. We've seen issues as detailed as perks being given to presidents that were inappropriate in a public sector context but that in a private sector context would be absolutely appropriate.
So there's that kind of difference, and that sensitivity to public sector issues. There has to be a way to bring that to the board. Currently it's really through the minister that this happens.