I now declare this 19th meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in order.
Colleagues, as agreed previously, today we have the Auditor General with us to discuss the main estimates. We'll be doing a public hearing component here.
At the end, I'll be putting two questions to you. First, shall vote 1, less the amount already granted in interim supply, carry? That is debatable and amendable. I shall also put before you the following: shall I, the chair, report the main estimates to the House? That is also debatable and amendable. The last question will be as follows: does the committee want to do a substantive report based on the OAG's departmental performance report and report on plans and priorities?
I'll be putting these questions to you as a matter of routine business at the end of this hearing.
If we have time, colleagues, we do have a little bit of committee business. Should we have the time, I would suggest to you that maybe we could slip into a business session. As a result of the postponement of the previous meeting, we have a little rejigging to do. If we have time today, doing that would be in our best interests.
Unless there are any interventions or reasons why I should not proceed, I will go immediately to our Auditor General and ask him for his presentation.
Hearing none, I turn to Mr. Ferguson.
Welcome, sir. It's always a pleasure to have you before the committee. The floor is now yours.