Evidence of meeting #73 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was board.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:20 a.m.
Principal, Office of the Auditor General
The board is the chair, the president, plus four others, and representatives from each participating province, so nine.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
That's almost half.
You mentioned that there are representatives from each of the participating provinces, so that will obviously go down if Manitoba pulls out.
Are there other nominating entities that put names forward to the government for positions on the board?
9:20 a.m.
Principal, Office of the Auditor General
No, it would be only the participating provinces and territories.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Then the rest is entirely up to the government of the day.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Maybe the next panellist can answer this.
You talked about positions created within the management structure, but there were also a number of management vacancies that appeared to be in key positions. How long were those positions open?
9:20 a.m.
Principal, Office of the Auditor General
The position of vice-president of sales and marketing was vacant since, I think, May 2015. I'm not sure, but it may have subsequently been filled. That could be a question for the corporation.
Some of the others were for shorter periods of time. During the period under audit there was a resignation, and prior to the commencement of our audit, there were a couple of resignations that hadn't been filled.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Thank you.
Sorry, Mr. Hardie, I have to cut it off there.
Mr. Miller, for five minutes, please.
No, sorry. It's Mr. Arnold
October 31st, 2017 / 9:20 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I have time, I'll pass my remaining time to Mr. Miller.
Thank you, witnesses, for being here today.
I'll get directly to my questions, and hopefully we can get through them all with short answers as well.
As auditors, were you able to access all records you felt necessary for your audit?
9:20 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Okay, great.
Much of the alternative or—what was the term you used— negative report, adverse opinion, referred to the management decisions and policies that were in place. Were other factors considered in the audit, such as market conditions, supply of product, labour market situations?
9:25 a.m.
Assistant Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General
If I understand your question correctly, in coming to the conclusion we weigh all of the evidence we have and also the context in which the organization is operating to determine whether the opinion should be positive, or have some qualifications, or be negative. We took all of that under advisement in coming to the conclusion.
Did we look at marketing...more broad policy issues that are outside the management of the corporation? The answer to that is no. This is a performance audit focused on the management practices to deliver the existing mandate. If you're asking whether we looked at the ecosystem of Lake Winnipeg, no. We didn't go anywhere beyond those particular types of issues. We only look at management practices.
9:25 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Were the effects of those situations and the workload on the board considered as part of the audit?
9:25 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
If there were outside factors that were making it difficult for the board to function or make decisions, were those considered in the audit?
9:25 a.m.
Assistant Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General
We would take into consideration certain extraneous factors. We make reference to those. For example, the Canadian dollar is something we would consider, issues like that. We would consider sanctions that had been placed, in terms of the whitefish. But we would also be very clear that even if it's tough and the environment is tough, we still expect there to be compliance with best practice.
9:25 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Thank you.
Who determines the timing of an audit or a secondary audit, now that we've seen this one with the adverse opinion?
9:25 a.m.
Assistant Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General
Essentially, under the current legislation an audit must be once every 10 years. That's legislated. It can be done earlier at our discretion, if we wish, or at the discretion of the secretary of the Treasury Board, or the minister.
9:25 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Thank you.
Can you clarify the situation if Manitoba withdraws? From what I've read, the fish harvesters would still have the option of marketing through the freshwater fisheries organization, or they could sell to private processors.