Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let me add just a couple of brief opening remarks.
First, to echo what Yaprak said, our thanks go to the Auditor General and their team for the professionalism and for the care they took with the work.
Our congratulations to you.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee. I'd just like to underline three points that maybe go at this in a slightly different way.
In Canada, there is a lot of talk about the importance of innovation. We think innovation is important for the future of the country, and there is a very good example of innovation in Canadian public policy. It's also a demonstration of the complexity of innovation.
Here we have a government that is willing to adapt to the processes. We have a public service that is willing to do so, with the capacity to meet the requirements and take the necessary innovative steps. We also have partners, the provinces, municipalities and others, who are willing to join with us in a process of innovation, so that we can meet the dual demands of “delivering the goods” quickly and efficiently, and meeting the needs of transparency and accountability to Canadians.
The second point I would make is that in learning lessons about this, we absolutely take on board the importance of thinking about this in a systematic way, but it will be important for us, first of all, to get the job done. While we should start to learn lessons, we are--all of us--focused very much on the completion of the economic action plan measures, and I would note that this timeline is not yet finished.
Finally,
the clerk underlined the importance of renewing the public service. I am not involved in the implementation of that process. I am here on behalf of the Privy Council Office, and it may be easier for me than for the others to say that it's an example of an efficient public service,
with the right people, the right background, the right experience, and the right relationships to respond in supporting the needs of the government, and indeed, responding to the importance of this for Canadians. I'd say that this is an example of the importance of renewing the public service as an institution so that we can continue to provide that sort of service that Canadians rightly expect of us.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.