I will at this time call the meeting to order. Welcome, everyone. Bienvenue.
This meeting, colleagues, I think is a very important one. It's to deal with the state of repair, the governance, the rehabilitation plans concerning the seven or eight buildings that comprise the parliamentary precinct, and of course including the building we're in now. These, as everyone knows, are very historic and traditional sites and form part of the heritage of this country. They're home to approximately a million visitors a year, and they're very much a symbol of our system of parliamentary democracy.
The Auditor General's office has completed the performance report on the governance, the rehabilitation plans, the availability of resources dealing with the total renovation of these buildings. The committee has had a tour, which we thank the Deputy Minister of Public Works and Government Services for organizing.
Today the committee is going to hear from the Auditor General on this performance report, and we're very pleased to have with us this morning the Auditor General, Sheila Fraser. She's accompanied by Sylvain Ricard, Assistant Auditor General, and Edward Wood, principal.
From the Department of Public Works and Government Services, the committee is pleased to welcome the deputy minister and accounting officer, François Guimont. He is accompanied by Mr. Robert Wright, the project executive director, major crown projects, parliamentary precinct branch. Most of us met Mr. Wright last week, who gave us the tour of the buildings.
We certainly thank you very much for that, Mr. Wright.
So without any further delay, I'm going to call upon the Auditor General for her opening remarks.