Thank you, Lesley.
There's something Lesley already spoke about that I wanted to emphasize. The federal public accounts committee as well as the federal audit office are really held in high esteem, both within Canada and around the world. I'm not saying that just because I'm here, but from many years of observing that.
There's no question that it's a big responsibility—and I'm not trying to scare you off of something you've been appointed to—but you also have great support within your administration, and you have great support from former colleagues. As I say, it's backed by a lot of history, but it is something that as a provincial auditor general I certainly looked at, and I relied upon the work of the federal office to help me. They have a larger office, have a larger staff and they do tend to lead. When there are changes in practice, they start out of the federal audit office.
The tone from that office is very important for all of the rest of us. It will be a component in your relationship with the auditor. Again, I don't minimize the importance of that. For me, as auditor general in British Columbia and in Manitoba, the work with the public accounts committee was the best part of the job, and it was for the staff as well. They would come to the hearings and support the work they had done. That's what makes it feel like very important work. Without that moment of.... There are two elements of it that I often think about. One is that you keep that report from gathering dust on a shelf. It's what keeps the findings and the recommendations from the audit alive. Again, until it's brought into fruition within the auditee—it could be a ministry or external—and until those recommendations are implemented, the change for the benefit of the public is not made. That combination is very important.
We don't talk a lot today about the relationship with government as well, and again, not on the elected side, but on the appointed side within the organizations that are being audited, and it's an important one as well. There was a book written about 30 years ago now called Cordial But Not Cosy. The author was a woman named Sonja Sinclair. She wrote about the federal Auditor General's office. It's about that important relationship with those who are being audited, where you hold the big stick as the auditor but you have to work in a collegial fashion with those you're auditing, because influencing that change is more than just writing a report and bringing it to the committee. It's a long process. I'll get into some of the details of what's involved in doing that kind of audit, but again, it's a relationship with those you're auditing, and then a relationship with the oversight body, with the public accounts committee.
It's a lot about people and it's a lot about how they work well together, but the independence of the Auditor General's office is critical. They also need the support of the public accounts committee to help them remain independent. They speak truth to power, and it can be tough at times, but it's absolutely a critical component of the work they're doing.