When we started this off, I did request the chair to consider halting this meeting so we could get the deputy minister who was in charge as your predecessor. We've had these issues on and off for quite some time. The Auditor General brought it to our attention and expressed his concern. We had the Clerk of the Privy Council before our committee defending the tenure of the deputy minister, saying it is not as bad as the Auditor General says, and I defended the Clerk of the Privy Council because he produced some numbers.
However, what I've started noticing is that there are some problem departments that the Auditor General has gone back to again and again, seeing no improvements from audit to audit, and it is in those departments that the deputy ministers also keep changing.
Is it that the departments are a problem because the deputy ministers keep changing, or is it that there are problems in the department and that is why the deputy ministers keep changing? I don't know.
This is a major concern to us. Chair, I think we have to consider, going forward, that whenever we invite a deputy minister, we find out how long he or she has been in the position. If the deputy minister has been around for a short period of time, say less than one year, maybe we should also simultaneously invite the previous deputy minister.