Very good. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, all, for your attendance today.
I just want to start by shouting from the rooftops how great it is that we've had 19 clean audits in a row. I've had the honour of sitting at this table for 15 of them and I have to tell you, every time it's still a great feeling. I get no credit at all. My party has never been in power. Any credit I get—we get—is being part of the parliamentary system.
Given that this committee's job is the premier oversight of government spending, we don't pull our punches around here. This is the one place where we can't afford to. We hit hard when money is being wasted and when government is not following the policies they should.
Conversely, when something is done right, and is good and positive, we need to give over-the-top praise, so I want to give that over-the-top praise personally, as someone who has invested a lot of blood and sweat and heart into the work of this committee. It's a wonderful thing. Canadians should be proud of the fact that, at the very least, nobody is robbing the treasury. I've been to enough countries in the world where you can't say that, and it does make you want to come back here, pound the table, and say, “Congratulations to every single person who works in the financial community in the government to bring us to this day.”
Congratulations to you. You did a great job, and we are proud of you. Please keep up the good work.
Having said that, now we get down to some nitty-gritty.
I also want to pick up, if I can, Chair, where the Auditor General did in commenting on Mr. Matthews and his job. Some of us got to know Mr. Matthews a lot better when we were at an anti-corruption conference in London.
I can tell you that I wholeheartedly agree with the praise the Auditor General is giving you for your job as comptroller general. You've done an outstanding job, and you're just a fantastic public servant. I wish you all the best at National Defence. I know that all of our ongoing problems at National Defence are going to be gone like that, Bill, because you're going to be there to take care of it for us, which is my segue to my question, actually.
We are making some headway. In his remarks the Auditor General said, “We found that, while problems remain, National Defence appears to be on track with its action plan.” Finally. It took long enough. However, I don't want to take my foot off the gas. It says that there are problems that remain. Auditor General, would you please touch on what some of those outstanding problems are?