One of the recommendations that I made regarding Canadian Heritage was that the accountability system should be reviewed. I made that recommendation partly because of the changes to the governance system. Responsibility for coordination and oversight used to fall under the purview of the Privy Council, but was transferred to Canadian Heritage. They are two separate functions: one is to implement programs, and the other is to ensure oversight.
We believe that it is difficult for the same department to adequately carry out both roles. We therefore asked Professor Donald Savoie to carry out a study on the governance of official languages in Canadian Heritage and provide us with an overview of the consequences of transferring the responsibilities from the Privy Council to Canadian Heritage. It is our means of following up on our concerns on this matter.