Thank you.
Well, I thought we were going to have a happy meeting here this morning and join in our efforts to reach the utopian state of homeostatic balance and good accounting and good performance. But there are at least a half a dozen items in your report, Ms. Fraser, that I think colleagues are going to want to deal with, and I'm going to jump right in.
I have been disturbed by a number of things, and you've reflected one of them in your report. It has been styled as the Conservative government's culture of deceit. I don't expect you to answer that, and this committee's usually pretty non-partisan, but this is a message that things are going to change.
I hear grumbling from the other side: “Oh, my God!“ But not only is there a culture of deceit; there is also a process of retribution undertaken by the government to deal with politics out on the street. It has to do with selection of program spending; it has to do with dealing with employees. So I'd like you to keep your eye open. I know you will.
I'm concerned in your paragraph19 by your stating that notwithstanding the sterling record of all of our Auditors General over all of the years, “Officials have refused information that we requested, have redacted it, or have provided it very late.” Are you in any way aware of why it would be that they would try to circumvent or block or deceive the Auditor General in the work that you do?