It is 3:30, and I'm certainly very pleased that everyone's here. I want to welcome everyone to this meeting.
This meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts has been called pursuant to the Standing Orders to deal with the Public Accounts of Canada 2008.
We are pleased to have before the committee today, on behalf of the Auditor General of Canada, John Wiersema, Deputy Auditor General. Welcome, John. John has been before the committee many times. He's accompanied by Doug Timmins, Assistant Auditor General, and Tammy Squires, principal. Welcome to you all.
From the Treasury Board Secretariat we have Mr. Rod Monette, the Comptroller General of Canada, who again has been before the committee many times; John Morgan, Assistant Comptroller General, financial management and analysis sector; and Bill Matthews, executive director, government accounting policy and reporting. In the case of both Mr. Morgan and Mr. Matthews, this experience is not new to them.
Colleagues, I should point out we also have with us Ms. Cheryl McMullin, coordinator of fiscal policy with the Department of Finance. The regular finance department official is not here. Ms. McMullin is here not so much to answer questions as to take any questions under advisement and get back to the committee in writing.
Before we go any further, witnesses, on behalf of the committee I want to thank you all very much for coming and for being prepared on such very short notice. This committee was constituted only on Tuesday. I know you people didn't get very much notice. You agreed to be here today, and on behalf of the committee I want to extend to you our appreciation.
Colleagues, before we call upon Mr. Wiersema for his opening comments, I want to make a few remarks. This is an annual meeting of the public accounts committee. You could state that it's probably our most important meeting. It's not the most contentious. It's the meeting to deal with the consolidated public accounts of Canada for the fiscal period ending March 31, 2008. Normally, this meeting would be held in October or November of the same year. We are running three months late, for reasons of which everyone is aware.
This is the final step in the government fiscal and accountability cycle starting with the budget and followed by the estimates, the supplementary estimates, the departmental reports on plans and priorities, the departmental performance reports, and of course the final document, the audited statement of government operations, which includes more or less $242 billion coming in and approximately $242 billion going out.
Having made my opening comments, I turn the floor over to you, Mr. Wiersema.