Chair, I think everyone has agreed that the evaluation of effectiveness is absolutely critical to making good decisions about program spending so that we can know whether programs are actually getting the results that were intended. I would say this is even more critical in the current economic times we are going through, because government does have to make difficult choices, and it should be making those decisions based on good information. So when we look at the various areas we think are important in the management of government, we think that the evaluation function is a really important one. That is why we did this audit.
If I could just add, I think we have seen in the past when economic times have been difficult that it has been very easy to cut functions like evaluations and internal audits and these sorts of back-office functions. I think it is important, with the new policy that has come out, that government is ensuring that this function continues; otherwise decisions are going to be made without the kind of information managers really need.
So that's why we thought this audit was important, and I would hope the committee thinks it is important.