The government says that it must be careful in its expenditures, that it should group together its purchases, and make full use of its buying power so that the taxpayers will get more for their money. That is what the minister has said and I see this in management's statement as well, but it isn't really reflected in the Report on plans and priorities.
You are just submitting the report to us. There is a three year projection and, in my opinion, you have made good progress over the past three years. I must make decisions, but how can I do that when you provide no percentages nor do you set any targets? There are wonderful motherhood statements, but nowhere does this report refer to an obligation to meet any type of result expressed as a percentage or any deadline to meet the objectives. The committee cannot make an informed decision or give you and your staff a pat on the back and tell you that you have done a good job. I can't even determine if the PWGSC budget has been reduced because I cannot find your objectives or any statements of your current performance. I can't put a figure on it.
We speak of transparency. But you can't assume that the members are... It's rather upsetting. You are responsible for a large budget and, what's more, the Auditor General of Canada, in every one of her annual reports, mentions accrual basis accounting. Our committee did a study on the subject. That being said, I don't think you apply accrual basis accounting at PWGSC. But you should be doing so. PWGSC and Treasury Board should use accrual basis accounting, as was requested by all members around this table.
I was anxiously awaiting your appearance here today. I wanted to ask you how, in your opinion, we can make decisions if we have nothing to go on, other than the general outlines as expressed in a rather specialized jargon. At some point, we will have to provide supplementary estimates, there will be a Report on plans and priorities, and nothing will have been adopted.
I say this because I feel it is important. I'm not sure how you can respond. It is simply an observation. What kind of question do you want me to ask? I have nothing here on which to base a question. I am sorry.