Thank you, Mr. Chair.
And I welcome the visiting professionals.
We, in this committee, sometimes take a lot of things for granted as we go about our work. In order to make the work of the Auditor General effective, there are a number of things that have to be in place, and it's all interconnected.
These are some examples. We need an Office of the Auditor General that is professional, non-partisan, and highly skilled. Without that, the quality of the audits is not there. We need a professional public service that is capable of understanding and implementing the guidance and scrutiny offered by the Auditor General. We have a very good professional public service in Canada—not the politicians, the public servants.
We need a free press so they can shine the light on these issues, report the issues, and show Canadians what is happening.
We need a government in power that is accountable to Parliament. The government must be present in the House of Commons to be accountable for all that it does.
Lastly, on our end there must be a committee that has a quality work plan that involves shining the light on many of the issues the Auditor General raises—not all of them; we don't have the time to do them all. We look for the important ones and we listen to what she says. We shine the light, we have public hearings, and we follow up.
Our chair and our staff ensure that when we take on an issue we try to follow up. Months later we follow the progress of the public service to the recommendations of the Auditor General. Sometimes we have our own recommendations, but usually they coincide with those of the Auditor General.
Those are about half a dozen separate things that must be in place in order for the three-headed audit procedures you have to work effectively.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.