Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman.
The internal audit function in the government, I believe, perhaps as a result of the program review exercise in the 1990s, really had been significantly weakened. We so indicated in the report we issued in early 2000. We thought that internal audit was a vital function for an organization as large and complex as the Government of Canada, and we pushed hard to strengthen that function.
I was delighted to be able to report on June 9, and would like to congratulate the internal auditors in government that they have done a lot of work toward professionalizing the function. I was quite impressed with the progress that's been made, and a lot of that has come with the support of the Office of the Comptroller General. They've taken that on, made it a priority, strengthened the function, and professionalized it. In addition, as a result of legislative changes, they've established the departmental audit committees, with external members, which I believe have gone a long way toward contributing to the strengthening and professionalization of the internal audit function. That's very much a good news file.