Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for joining us again, Mr. Thompson.
I have to say that every time I open these green books, it's quite depressing. I suppose that as opposition members we should be excited when there are reports from the Auditor General's office, the commissioner's office, that show government failure. It's meant to be something that we should excite ourselves about in opposition, but the implications of this.... It's not so much the failures that have happened, but I'm trying to understand—and this is what I'll get to in the heart of my questions—the fundamental changes that need to be made within government in terms of accountability and consequence. That's the lead-off from the last question you answered: what is the consequence?
Canadians need to know there is a consequence for somebody somewhere for not doing what government has committed to do. The public are suspicious enough already. Unfortunately, I think reports like this—and I know this is not your intention—support that suspicion of what government commitments actually mean in the real world.
When we've had department heads come before us—if that is what the committee has sought to do—we've had this occur before at the environment committee. They have the ability to produce a great deal of paper and reports that would counter any argument that things aren't well. They can show that things are extraordinarily well. On top of that, they will then give us commitments and reports about how they're strengthening the accountability lines.
If there were a question you could put in terms of framing this and pinning it down to the level of departmental accountability that would leave you feeling some assurance, what would it be?