I have a question for the Treasury Board representatives regarding the recommendation on page 218 of the English version of the report. It states that Treasury Board should develop a plan for departments to use financial information on an accrual-based budgeting and appropriation approach, and so on. I was surprised to see the Treasury Board Secretariat's response, which said, and I quote: “[...] the engagement of an independent contractor to conduct a comprehensive study [...]”. That was the first initiative.
The second, which I think is a better idea, is to develop a pilot project. I would like you to tell us how long it will last, how you will select the departments, and who will evaluate it, because that is very important as well.
I cannot believe that yet another study would be done. You represent an office in which both Canadians and parliamentarians have absolute confidence, and yet you were talking about another comprehensive study to be done by a private contractor. Do we not have the data and the expertise required? Why are you going to do that, and how much will it cost? I would be very interested in knowing that, Mr. Libbey. How much will the study cost? When do you expect it to be done? When will you be implementing it? How will you evaluate whether or not it was useful?