Thank you, Chair.
First off, I want to say to the deputy that I appreciate very much and respect the fact that you've stepped forward and taken the blame, and that's not easy. People need to understand that deputies don't particularly like to have files they've been responsible for with a great big “failed” on them, and there is good reason to want to avoid that. I appreciate very much the fact that you weren't....
I want to say this to mitigate your circumstance somewhat: having been a minister, I understand the limitations. I have great respect your restraint in keeping the blame all yours, but the fact of the matter is that any time you're dealing with a government that was that headstrong in austerity programs, I can only imagine the kind of pressure that you were being given, and I say, partly tongue in cheek, that it can't be easy taking direct orders from my shy, retiring colleague Mr. Poilievre.
You mentioned also that the reason for the audits was to find these kinds of things. I would like to overlay that by saying that one of the reasons we do these audits, this whole process, is not just to make your life hell for a day, although that's part of it, but also to change behaviour so that other deputies are looking right now and saying “Thank goodness that's not me” and making sure that they aren't in that situation, and that the associate deputy ministers are also understanding that they have some responsibilities here.
In whatever little time I have left, I'd like to swing over to the Auditor General to ask what should have happened at the front end to ensure that this didn't happen. Where was the oversight from Treasury Board or somewhere else? Where were they in all of this? How could this get so far out of hand?
Those are two questions. At the front end, what could they have done differently to avoid this outcome? Secondly, was there anybody else responsible for some oversight here who needs to be held to account?