Government Operations Committee on June 15th, 2017

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

I have another question, before my time runs out.

We talked about the Auditor General. Has a request been made? I did not understand that part. The request was made and a report was produced. If I understood correctly, the report was produced a long time ago.

[Christiane Fox]

I think that a report was produced, but once the new system was implemented, the Auditor General was asked to review the system and send us a report on the assessment of the new system. That has not yet been done. It is up to him, or his office, to decide on the date, the extent of the review and its schedule. It is up to his office to tell us when the review will begin.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Okay. Normally, a request is made.

He could have also decided on his own to conduct that review.

[Christiane Fox]

He could have decided on his own to do so.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

The request has been made and you are waiting to see what will happen.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much.

To all our witnesses, thank you for your appearance here today and for taking the time out of your busy schedules to be with us. Thank you for your testimony.

Should you have any additional information that you feel would be of benefit to this committee, I would ask you to submit it directly to our clerk. I note that there were a few questions that you did not have an opportunity to respond to. I would ask that you direct those responses to our clerk, in written form, for the benefit of our committee.

Thank you once again, ladies and gentlemen. You are excused.

Colleagues, before we adjourn—we'll be in public, and I'm not in camera on this one—I'll just inform you that, with the motion that was carried at our last meeting, the PBO has been invited and has accepted our invitation to appear on Tuesday. We will have a full two-hour meeting with the parliamentary budget officer on Tuesday next week. I have not scheduled any meetings beyond that, because quite frankly, we don't know when we are going to rise. I suspect it will be before next Thursday, which means that next Tuesday would be our final meeting of the session.

Kyle, go ahead.

[Kyle Peterson, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

I'm just wondering if there's an appetite to not have next Tuesday's meeting at all.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

We've already extended the invitation. There was a motion to that effect. The PBO has accepted that invitation, so we will be having a meeting next Tuesday, unless, of course—

[Kyle Peterson, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

[ Inaudible—Editor]

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

—the government rises, Parliament rises.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Are we in public?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

We're in public, Kelly.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Sorry, I thought we were going in camera.

I understand that between the parties there are discussions about the estimates reform. If the two sides or three sides accept the suggestion that the government has, then I think it's kind of a moot point to have the PBO attend. If the sides do not accept what the government is proposing, then I would propose that we go ahead with the Tuesday meeting. However, if they do accept the proposal on the estimates reform, then Tuesday becomes a moot point, I think.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

At this point in time, we're not sure.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

So, we should just wait until the end of the day, until we find out.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

We have a motion that was carried. An invitation was extended and accepted, so at this point in time, we're on for a meeting on Tuesday.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Right.

We can adjust later, but I'll follow up with the government side.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Erin.

[Erin Weir, NDP, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

I was going to say that I'm not so sure it is a moot point. I mean, even if all three major parties agree on something, it's still interesting and worthwhile to hear other voices.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

There may be questions that colleagues have of the PBO.

[Erin Weir, NDP, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Yes, exactly. I would even suggest that it might make sense to have that meeting televised. I think there could be quite a bit of public interest in it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Under the norms, particularly in committee rooms such as this, it will be televised.

I'm taking that as a request. We'll certainly see if we can accommodate that.

[Kyle Peterson, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Well, I for one would hope to be going back to Newmarket—Aurora next week.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

I hope you're in Newmarket—Aurora, as well, Kyle—no disrespect.

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Mr. Chair, from your previous experience, do you think we're going to stay?