Mr. Franks, in your introduction, you said that you had not received any cooperation from the Treasury Board in terms of developing the protocol you were to submit to us in accordance with the mandate you were given by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. After that, when discussing the document itself, you said that the Privy Council Office trivialized the responsibilities laid out in the Federal Accountability Act. That is what I understood you to say. You also said that, in a way, this document minimizes the powers of parliamentary committees, and you cited the example of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
It seems to me that those comments are quite significant. You are describing a situation which I see as extremely problematic. You even said that over the centuries, Parliament has always won. So, this is not the first time there have been conflicting interpretations of the powers of parliamentarians, as opposed to those of the government. That is what I understood.
Finally, referring to this Committee, you said that its only real power is to examine issues. When you talk about its only real power, are you saying that it should have additional ones?