Thank you, Auditor General and team, for your attendance.
I'm going to preface my questions with a comment.
Since you released your three reports last week, I've heard from hundreds of Canadians who have expressed their profound disappointment in this NDP-Liberal government, which, over the course of almost nine years, has consistently demonstrated a lack of adherence to basic procurement rules. To your point in this particular audit, you focused on whether or not procurement—in this case, with McKinsey—provided value for money for Canadians.
In your overall message, you indicate quite clearly that "Federal contracting and procurement policies exist to ensure fairness, transparency, and value for Canadians—but they only work if they are followed." I'm hearing that the auditor is making recommendations and department heads and organizations are saying, “Yes, we'll agree to follow those recommendations.” However, they already know what the rules are and they're not following them. Every audit that I have been privy to from your office consistently shows a pattern of disrespect for taxpayer monies.
The question to you is, how do you define “value for money” from an auditor's perspective?