Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee.
Good afternoon everyone.
I would first like to introduce my colleague, Patrick Hill, who is the Director of Strategic Policy in the Machinery of Government Secretariat of the Privy Council Office.
We are very pleased to be here today as the committee studies the role and function of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development.
I would like to begin by briefly setting out the role of the Machinery of Government Secretariat and then turn to the role and function of the Commissioner as set out in the Auditor General Act.
One of the key roles of the secretariat is to provide the Clerk of the Privy Council and the Prime Minister with public service advice on the broad structural issues of government organization. This includes providing public service advice on changes to the organization of the government, including the creation, alteration, or wind-up of governmental bodies. These responsibilities are largely discharged in two ways: by developing options and proposals for the Prime Minister's consideration, and by exercising a challenge function in assessing proposals for the Prime Minister that are brought forward by others.
As members know, the legislative framework establishing the commissioner and setting out that officer's functions is found in the Auditor General Act.
The Commissioner's position was established by Parliament through statute in 1995 as a senior officer appointed by the Auditor General and forming part of the Office of the Auditor General.
The act sets out that the mandate of the commissioner is to provide monitoring and reporting on progress of government departments toward sustainable development. It also provides that the commissioner shall, on behalf of the Auditor General, report annually to the House of Commons concerning anything that the commissioner considers should be brought to the attention of the House related to environmental and other aspects of sustainable development. This includes the extent to which departments have met the objectives and implemented the plans contained in their sustainable development strategies, the number of petitions related to the environment, their subject matter and status, as well as the exercise of Governor in Council authority regarding sustainable development strategies.
The commissioner is a statutory officer within the Office of the Auditor General and has the same independence as the Auditor General herself. That is to say the commissioner, like the Auditor General, discharges his or her role independently of the government of the day and reports to the House of Commons. As an agent of Parliament, the office performs an oversight function of the executive and is accountable directly to Parliament for the manner in which it delivers on its legislative mandate.
We look forward to the deliberations of the committee, including the perspectives of the witnesses appearing before it on the issue at hand. In addition, we await the results of the Auditor General's internal review of her office's environment and sustainable development audit practice.
We would be pleased to answer questions you may have. Thank you.