Good afternoon everyone.
It's the 47th meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
We are going to start our meeting, but I'd like to make a statement before we go further.
Thank you all for being here from the department and from the Office of the Auditor General. I have to say we are extremely disappointed that the deputy minister couldn't attend. This has been an issue for us. We know that sometimes, yes, there are difficulties in getting schedules to work together.
As you probably know, the legislation states that the deputy minister must be present. We're very disappointed that he isn't here.
Mr. Christopherson, you have the floor.