That was a simple question, requiring only a yes or no. Thank you very much.
Here is why I am asking this question, Mr. Chair. It would seem that they are trying to find reasons not to do certain things, and that they try to use the example of other countries to justify the fact that they do not do those things.
Mr. Ralston, you stated a while ago that the Auditor General will audit the consolidated financial statements. You should not give this kind of example when you know full well that it will not be full audits of each department but only partial audits of samples picked here and there.
In your opening statement, you said that “the environment of 2010 is different from that of 2004... It was appropriate for the government to reevaluate the merits of the earlier plan in that light".
How can you say that it was appropriate for the government to reevaluate the merits of the earlier plan when no plan was ever implemented? Justice Canada is the only department which really met, in part, the request to produce its financial statements in 2009. No other department did so. I wonder when that will happen. I fail to see how this could be appropriate when the work was not ever done.