Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank you all very much for being here. This is an extremely important issue. Canada is supposed to be a strong country, a generous country, a country that does more than average. But once again, according to the numbers in the report, we are below average in terms of development assistance as a share of the gross national income. That is unacceptable for a country like Canada. But it is not a matter of money; it is a matter of figuring out what is being done with the money. Is it really being used to help develop and build the strengths of these countries?
My first question is for the Auditor General. Madam, in paragraph 8.10, your audit report states that CIDA does not have comprehensive governing legislation that defines its mandate and role. But, in 2008, Parliament passed the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act. Why was the act, which was passed in 2008, not mentioned in the report or included within the audit’s scope?