I call the meeting to order.
I want to extend to everyone here a very warm welcome, especially our two panellists, who I'll introduce a little later.
I want to take this opportunity to repeat the reasons why we're here. We're meeting together to explore the roles and responsibilities of the Treasury Board Secretariat. In particular, colleagues, we're looking at the role played by the Treasury Board in the accountability of deputy ministers and the implications of changes proposed to the Financial Administration Act by the Federal Accountability Act. If the latter is adopted, deputy ministers will be designated as accounting officers for their departments and will be accountable before parliamentary committees, including this committee. We're looking at the ability of deputy ministers to properly fulfill their roles as accounting officers in light of their short tenures; the development of a protocol that will govern the appearance of deputy ministers in their role as accounting officers before this committee, as well as other parliamentary committees; and finally, the development of a cooperative working arrangement between this committee and Treasury Board and its secretariat, as called for by Mr. Justice Gomery in his final report.
Colleagues, I think we're very privileged to have with us this afternoon two very esteemed gentlemen with quite a considerable background in this area. First of all, I want to welcome Mr. Ian Clark. Mr. Clark is a previous secretary of the Treasury Board, he's a previous deputy minister here in Ottawa, and he's presently now the president of the Council of Ontario Universities.
With Mr. Clark is another gentleman who's certainly no stranger to this committee. He is Mr. Denis Desautels. He's the former Auditor General of the Government of Canada and served a ten-year term prior to the appointment of Mrs. Sheila Fraser in 2001. I believe it was in March 2001 when Mr. Desautels' term ended and Mrs. Fraser's started. So anyone who was on the committee during that ten-year term is certainly familiar with Mr. Desautels.
First of all, I want to thank you very much for coming here today and assisting us in this effort. I'll turn it over to you first, Mr. Clark, if you have any opening remarks, and then we'll go to Mr. Desautels.