Public Accounts Committee on Sept. 28th, 2009

[Sheila Fraser]

I don't know if I'm interpreting this correctly, but if anything, I think that if you become busier, with more operations, you need to have even more rigour in your planning, in your financial management, and especially in your resource management.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Exactly. Thank you.

Vice-Admiral, with regard to mission-focused organization, an executive committee was mentioned in the report. I wanted to ask you about it. It was mentioned that the executive committee includes an associate deputy minister who is the chief financial officer. Is that the same person who sits on that committee?

[VAdm Denis Rouleau]

On the executive committee?

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Yes.

[VAdm Denis Rouleau]

On the executive committee, we have the deputy minister—

[A witness]

The associate.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Associate, I see.

Are you the chief financial officer?

[A witness]

No.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Okay, so you're not on that committee.

[A witness]

No.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

I want to know how the implementation of that committee or the regular meetings might help you forecast when you might have $300 million left over at the end of the year, know in advance so that if you wanted to use it for your priorities you could.

[Robert Fonberg]

The recommendations around those issues would actually come to the defence finance committee, of which the chief financial officer is a member.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

That's how you would avoid that happening again.

[William F. Pentney, Associate Deputy Minister, Department of National Defence]

Yes, and DSX should help us understand, if we have $300 million, strategically where we should invest it—

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Right.

[William F. Pentney]

—assuming we have the time to make an appropriate strategic decision. But DFC should be processing the information based on recommendations; DSX should be setting the overall strategy in terms of what our priorities are now, medium term, and long term.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thank you.

Deputy Fonberg, as former Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier said, you're not an ordinary government department. So I want to get a better understanding of what risk management is in the defence department, because it must be very complex, and whose risk do you manage?

[Robert Fonberg]

I think it's fair to say that we manage two kinds of risk. We manage operational risk, which is essentially one of the core accountabilities of the Chief of the Defence Staff; and we manage management-related risk, including the kind of risk that the Auditor General has referred to, and that is one of my core accountabilities.

So on the operational risk side, the vice would be much better positioned to speak to it; and on the management risk and managing for excellence side, I think a significant part of it, although certainly not exclusively, is what we've been talking about here today.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Does it refer to managing risk of financial matters or human life as well?

[Robert Fonberg]

On the operational side, absolutely, on the human life piece.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Would you care to comment on that?

[VAdm Denis Rouleau]

It is entirely the Chief of the Defence Staff's accountability and responsibility to assess risks for any forces that are put in harm's way, and whether they have the right equipment and what needs to be done, and whether he wants to make that call and send them in.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Thanks, Mr. Young.

Ms. Crombie, you have five minutes.

[Bonnie Crombie, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Ms. Hall Findlay would like to take the first question.