Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
To all of our friends, welcome back to this committee.
My good friend from the Bloc has raised some very important questions.
Having had the privilege of sitting on the public accounts committee, I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't reference the good work of my predecessor, David Christopherson, who in the 42nd Parliament was at the public accounts committee. The committee made recommendation in a report called “Do Service Well”. Mr. Ferguson was the AG at the time.
Recommendation 1 was:
The Committee strongly believes that as the officer of Parliament tasked with ensuring accountability and value for taxpayer money in the federal administration, the OAG should not have to be concerned about the vagaries of parliamentary cycles as regards to their funding to effectively meet their mandate. In fact, as stated by Sylvain Ricard, Interim Auditor General, it is not appropriate for the OAG to lobby Finance Canada and also possibly be in a position to have to audit them. Therefore, the Committee strongly recommends that Parliament and the Government of Canada implement a statutory, fixed mechanism that ensures stable, long-term, and predictable funding for the OAG.
That particular committee at that particular time made that recommendation for public accounts.
All of you are here today for the estimates. I also recognize, Ms. Maynard, that in the past you have had to receive stopgap funding. You just referenced the need for interim supports in order to meet your mandate, but of course you are advocating a more fixed-term process.
To put to both of you, would you agree that it be a recommendation of this committee at the appropriate time to provide this type of external, stable, long-term and predictable funding in order to maintain the independence, integrity, efficiencies and strength of your respective independent organizations?
I'll start with you, Ms. Maynard. Do you believe that?