That is a matter for debate, Mr. Chair. I haven't had time to think it through properly, but an assurance by the Comptroller General, who has the capacity to act rapidly and the powers as chief accountant to get the job done, may be something we want to explore.
I do want to put on the record, Mr. Chair, the issue of the Gomery inquiry recommendations. I felt that they tinkered around the edges of Parliament. They were not substantive enough. They were not central to the fact that Parliament is the highest democratic institution and that government reports to Parliament. They recommended more money for the public accounts committee and longevity for DMs and so on, but they didn't address and rebuild or emphasize the need for Parliament to be a strong, democratic institution. And we have allowed our powers--over I don't know how many years, but it may even be generations--to be eroded and frittered away, tiny bit by tiny bit, until now, in many ways, we are subservient to government, rather than the other way around.
I was hoping that the Gomery commission would be a restatement of the grand design that Parliament is the highest body and is holding government accountable. Mr. Chair, as we all know, the Federal Accountability Act largely adopted many of the recommendations of the Gomery report, and therefore, by continuation, was just tinkering around the edges, rather than reinforcing the whole institution and trying to rebuild the institution as a strong democratic force.