Good morning, colleagues.
This is meeting number 144 of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on this Thursday, June 13, 2019.
We are here this morning to consider the budget request of the Office of the Auditor General for 2019-20. I believe we're televised this morning.
Before we begin, I would like to take a minute to commend the committee for the congenial spirit demonstrated by all members. In particular, I would like to thank deputy chairs David Christopherson of the NDP, Alexandra Mendès of the Liberal Party and Pat Kelly from the Conservative Party for their amiable negotiation and drafting of what I felt was an excellent letter to the Minister of Finance. It was a letter that this committee wholeheartedly supported.
All members of our committee recognize the crucial, important work of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, and therefore unanimously recommend that the OAG be provided with the $10.8 million it requested in its 2019 budget proposal. Furthermore, we strongly recommended that budget decisions relevant to the officers of Parliament, most specifically the Office of the Auditor General, should revert to Parliament.
To discuss the budgetary ask of the OAG, we have a number of guests with us here this morning, but before I introduce them, let's take just one minute for a few sentences by Mr. Christopherson, please.