What I'd like to point out is that the purpose of this meeting, of course, has been to review the government's financial statements. It kind of points us to the pinnacle, the end of the road, one of the most visible outputs perhaps of the government's financial management system. But one thing I think deserves mention—and one thing my office is particularly responsible for—is nurturing a strong community of strong financial professionals, strong internal audit professionals, who work around the year in all of the departments and agencies, applying sound policies, sound principles, and a lot of due diligence. It's really a lot of the efforts of those kinds of professionals that produce this. To support them, my office has, through the Treasury Board, issued some important policies on financial management governance, on internal control, and on internal audit. I believe that framework is fundamental to the continued health and the continued good results we see, not just clean opinions but also actually sound spending.
On November 23rd, 2009. See this statement in context.