I now declare this 58th meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in order.
Colleagues, we are here today pursuant to Standing Order 81(4), main estimates 2015-16, vote 1 under Auditor General. It was referred to us on Tuesday, February 24 of this year.
The three components of what we'll be dealing with today from the Auditor General's office are his 2013-14 departmental performance report, the 2015-16 report on plans and priorities, and the 2015-16 main estimates. Within those main estimates is the budget for the Office of the Auditor General. As this Auditor General knows, at some point during all of this we do ask flat out, publicly, if the Office of the Auditor General has sufficient funds to carry out their mandated responsibilities. I expect that to happen in due course.
That sets it up. It's fairly straightforward. We've done this every year. Unless there are any interventions, I think we're ready to go. We'll begin by asking our Auditor General to read his opening statement.
Mr. Ferguson, you have the floor, sir.