Only five minutes, Mr. Chair? Thank you. I'm going to try to be brief.
Gentlemen, thank you for being with us this morning.
I think that this exercise is very important. Our role is to see to it that there be methods and processes that optimize the use of taxpayers' money.
Are there any self-assessment mechanisms in your organization or at the Department of National Defence?
I would like to come back again to the fact that when the representatives of organizations come before the Committee on Public Accounts and get slapped on the wrist, they come back 10 years later and present an action plan and recommendations. However, today, in your structures, I don't see any mechanisms that would optimize the use of public funds.
I will give you two examples. We have met with people responsible for military housing who did not even know how many units there were. Is that normal? I'll tell you: the answer is no, that is not normal.
Moreover, the report on the reserve that was tabled today is not reassuring, and the budgets do not match up. You had trouble explaining to my colleague what these figures of 14,000, 18,000 and 21,000 represent. Those people are either there or they are not there. It's confusing. This doesn't generate a feeling of security. And I think that the term is well chosen in this case.
Do you have some sort of internal self-assessment process? In order for us to feel confident, perhaps you should not wait to appear before the committee, and not wait for the Auditor General to come visit you to do an audit.