Public Accounts Committee on Oct. 17th, 2006

[RAdm Tyrone Pile]

The deputy minister being referred to is actually me. It's just that there has been a name change. What used to be the assistant deputy minister of human resources military—quite a mouthful—is now chief of military personnel.

I'm pleased to report that at the same time the Auditor General was finalizing that report, we had, in the Canadian Forces, as some of you may have heard, the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Hillier, talk about Canadian Forces transformation. Part of that whole transformation process includes human resources systems transformation. In November 2005 the armed forces counsel and the Chief of the Defence Staff fully endorsed an improved full accountability and authority to be invested for the entire Canadian Forces personnel system in one individual responsible to the Chief of the Defence Staff. That individual is me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Thank you very much.

I don't have any questions.

First of all, I want to thank you, Ms. Fraser, and your staff for being here.

I certainly thank you, Admiral Pile, and your colleagues for being here. It is an honour for us to have you here. We certainly offer you our support, our encouragement, and, on behalf of all Canadians, our thanks.

Before we conclude, do you have any closing remarks, Mrs. Fraser?

[Sheila Fraser]

I'd just like to say, Chair, that we were very pleased to note there was satisfactory progress on the concerns we had raised in 2002, and also that the Canadian Forces have agreed with our recommendations and have started to take certain actions on that. I hope when we return in four or five years that we will also note satisfactory progress then.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Admiral Pile, do you have any closing remarks you want to address to the committee?

[RAdm Tyrone Pile]

Yes, sir.

Thank you very much for inviting us here today. I appreciate very much the vocal and evident support for the Canadian Forces from the members of the committee. Also, although it might sound strange, I actually welcome the Auditor General's return to come and check up on us to see how we've done with the numerous investments and initiatives that are in place today. We'll continue to invest and put into place other initiatives in the near future. I think they will see a very positive result as an outcome.

These are very trying times in the Canadian Forces with the mission in Afghanistan, while at the same time we are transforming and we are also growing. That has put a lot of pressure on all of the individuals in uniform, and I thank you again for your support.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Again, I want to thank everyone for being here.

For committee members, we are meeting Thursday at 3:15. At that point we'll be in camera discussing reports.

The meeting is adjourned.