Evidence of meeting #38 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was meeting.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
We have four people with their final comments. We will excuse Madame Fraser and carry on.
Mr. Vellacott.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
I'll stick to that and stay away from the structure, as others suggest and as you've advised.
I do note, Madam Fraser, that you're appointing Ron Thompson as interim commissioner. I assume it's within your mandate to make that appointment. I suppose it's your role.
But I need some clarification. I think I understand how this works, but as to the role of Ms. Gélinas, I take it she is your employee; an employee of the Auditor General's office.
11:55 a.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
That's correct.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
So you have the authority to appoint her, to have an agreement when she departs, and that type of thing.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
I guess I'll get to the chase then and be really frank with my question. Does the government have any authority to appoint...was the government involved in this kind of thing?
11:55 a.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
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.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
Do they have any influence in respect to your--
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
11:55 a.m.
Bloc
Bernard Bigras Bloc Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
I do not want to discuss the underlying issue, but it seems to me that... Ms. Fraser was courteous enough to come to the committee to tell us her decision. I do not think we should turn on the cameras, as my colleague, Mr. McGuinty, suggests. I think we should take note of her decision and allow her to make her public announcement as she sees fit. However, we could ask Ms. Fraser to come back to the committee, not on February 15th but tomorrow, to explain this decision. In that way, Ms. Fraser could make her announcement this afternoon. I do not know what I have on my schedule or what committee meetings are planned, but we could ask Ms. Fraser to come back tomorrow to explain her position. We can have a broader discussion of this matter at that time. I do not know what you think about this, but I think that that would strike a balance between what Ms. Fraser is suggesting and the open discussion we want to have, not in three weeks, but rather as quickly as possible.
11:55 a.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
I would be pleased to appear before the committee at whatever time suits you, Mr. Chairman.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
Mr. Warawa, can you tell me what time Bill C-30 committee meets tomorrow?
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
It meets from 9 o'clock on Thursday. Tomorrow is Wednesday, so we're not meeting tomorrow.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
Go ahead, just on the topic, Mr. Scarpaleggia. And then we'll get right to Mr. Bigras' question.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
I believe it's on the topic. I guess I'm thinking of how you're going to deal with the media today.
First of all, how much time was left in Ms. Gélinas' mandate?
11:55 a.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
She does not have a mandate.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Okay. Well, that's an interesting answer.
Second, how will you answer questions about whether she left as a result of a disagreement with the direction she was taking? More precisely, how will you answer that question when people say that her departure is juxtaposed with a desire to look at the mandate of the commissioner, in a sense? How will you answer that?
This is so we can be on the same wavelength in some way.
11:55 a.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
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 position, we said that this appears to be kind of an opportunity at this time, before just going ahead with the search, to ask what the profile is that is needed for the commissioner. It has been 12 years since the creation of the commissioner. We hear from certain groups that there are expectation gaps. We'd like to hear from parliamentarians whether that is the case. What is the profile? Can we do our work better?
There are a number of issues that I'd like to bring forward to the committee to explain why we think a review would be appropriate at this time, and we obviously want parliamentarians to be involved in that. So I guess you could say that the departure has kind of created an opportunity to sort of reflect upon that.
Noon
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
We take you at your word, of course, that there's no connection, really, other than that it's an opportunity--
Noon
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
That's right. That's right.
