Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll just pick up on the last point. This reserve pension still troubles me.
Through you, Mr. Chair, I would ask if perhaps the analyst would consider doing a check back. I seem to recall dealing with this. The issue at the time was that they were dragging their heels on setting up this plan. It was quite scathing in terms of the things they were supposed to do and hadn't done.
It's pensions, and it's always worrisome when anything to do with pensions is a problem. Number one, it's big money, as a rule. Secondly, we're talking, at the end of the day, about people's ability to survive when they're retired. It's kind of a big issue these days.
Perhaps the analyst would be kind enough to check that. I could be totally wrong—I don't trust my memory well—but I seem to recall that.
Second, it needs to be said, and I don't think it has—if it has, it can be said again—that it's an excellent, excellent report, actually. If you look at it, “target met” is in here far more than anything else, and certainly more than most. Of course, you always put yourself in an unusual position when you come here, because you spend all year pointing out where everybody else is not running things quite the way they should be. Then you're on the line once a year in terms of your operation, and you run the risk of being a hypocrite. But in fact it's quite the opposite. I think you're showing stellar leadership. We know there have been surveys about how your department is one of the best, if not the best, to work in, and that's consistent.
So credit where credit's due: it's an excellent report in terms of the areas you've met. We appreciate that. We know you're serious about getting things up to speed in a couple of the areas that aren't quite where we'd all like them to be.
I also want to give a quick shout-out to my friend Daryl Kramp. I'm sure he's not watching, but if he's out there...or if anybody knows Daryl, let him know that accrual finances and auditing are right back again. That was his thing for over 10 years.
I want to tell colleagues that I've been on this committee, as you know, forever and a day now, and it still is a challenge to understand accrual accounting. At some point, we do need to have a bit of a briefing on it, because I think we still have the issue of purchasing not being in accrual, although that may now be resolved.
At any rate, I just wanted to give a shout-out to Daryl, who invested a lot of time and effort, and who cared about this committee in a way that I think reflects the gold standard of what this committee is about. Daryl, wherever you are, man, accrual is still with us.
That said, I do have a serious question. Under your performance measures and results for 2014-15, you state, “Build and maintain relationships with parliamentarians and key stakeholders.” That's a big statement. Then, under your indicators, you state, “Development of a relationship management plan and related objectives.”
I see that it's in development, but I'm curious as hell as to what a structured “relationship maintenance plan” looks like, especially when you're dealing with types like us. I'd just like some thoughts on how that work is going, and where it's going.