Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman.
The member is referring to a meeting that takes place once a year by the Canadian Council of Public Accounts Committees and the Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors. All the auditors general of Canada and the provinces get together once a year and meet jointly with the members of the PACs from across Canada to talk about best practices, and so on.
This year we received a presentation from the chair of the public accounts committee in the U.K., who talked about the best practices there. The national audit office, comptroller, and auditor general of the U.K. work very closely with their public accounts committee equivalent, and perhaps even a little bit more so than we do here in Canada. You'll find that practices vary across different jurisdictions. For example, the Auditor General of Ontario basically provides the type of research assistance that your analysts provide to the federal PACP.
As for my experience working with the federal public accounts committee, I believe we've struck the right balance for the federal environment. I have been quite happy with the working relationship that the Office of the Auditor General has enjoyed with this committee in the past. You are well supported by your clerk and your researchers. Your researchers will meet with staff from the Office of the Auditor General to prepare for a hearing. They might meet with staff from the affected departments. They provide effective support to the committee's work.
I meet periodically with your chair to talk about upcoming business. I think that relationship has worked in the past. I'm open to meeting with individual members of the PACP at any time to talk about the work of the committee and how we might work more effectively.
So I believe the relationship we enjoy with the public accounts committee works well in the federal context. I'm comfortable that we don't need to go further along the lines provided by other jurisdictions, because you're well supported by your researchers and our individual relationships.