Thank you, Madam Chair.
I hope you and the members of the committee appreciate that Mr. Christopherson is a very hard act to follow.
It's very nice to be back before this committee. I was on the committee for approximately 10 years. I chaired the committee for five years, and the five years that I chaired were all during minority governments, so it was a unique time.
I want to congratulate you and the other members of the committee, both for your election last year and also on your appointment to this committee.
We've all been asked to make a few preliminary comments. I've condensed mine to seven takeaways, which I'm going to do as quickly as possible. Some of them have a little repetition from previous speakers, so I'll skip over them fairly quickly.
The first one, Madam Chair, has been mentioned before, but I will restate it.
The public accounts committee is fundamentally different from any other committee of the House of Commons. We focus on administration and not policy. It examines, as Carol mentioned, the economy and the efficiency and effectiveness of government spending. We have to appreciate, first of all, that ninety-nine point whatever of things that happen in the government of Canada are done well. We rank very high in international comparisons. However, when there are problems or when things can be improved, we look at what the causes of the problems are and find out if the problems been rectified.
Really, Madam Chair, it goes to the foundational role of each and every member of Parliament, both in government and in opposition, and that is to hold the government to account. We're not here to govern but to hold to account those who do.
The second point I want to make is on the steering committee. It's very important, as we have seen situations in which it wasn't as effective as it could have been. Madam Chair, you're looking at the situation seven or eight weeks out because you're scheduling deputy ministers and heads of government agencies, and the whole scheduling process requires consideration. Each party, or whatever member of the steering committee, can take their time to discuss this, and you set the future work of the committee. Of course, the committee's recommendations or minutes have to be approved by the committee as a whole.
My experience in the steering committee was that if we didn't have time to do all the performance reports, we would get the parties' representatives to rank them. Every party would have their first choice, and after that it would be done on a ranked basis. Generally, it worked very well.
The third point is one that David covered somewhat. We all have to be aware of government or opposition interference. You're here to exercise your own judgment and ask your own questions. You have to appreciate that there are a lot of individuals, and I don't want to be overly critical, in the Prime Minister's office and the Leader of the Opposition's office and the leaders of the other parties' offices who don't really understand the unique role of this committee. They don't understand the role of the committee. It's a slippery slope, but it's a slope that's hard to get off.
I've seen situations, Madam Chair, when we've had members of the committee who had distinguished careers get up and ask written questions prepared by somebody else. The deputy minister or whoever would elaborate and answer the question. The member would go on and ask a supplementary question, which was already answered, but it was written by somebody else. It didn't look good for that member and it didn't look good for the committee.
I'm going on to the fourth point.
One of the critical comments I do want to make today is to urge each and every member to familiarize yourselves with the provisions of the Federal Accountability Act. That, put simply, states that every deputy minister and agency head is personally accountable to the committee, to Parliament, for the way government programs are administered in accordance with government policies, laws, statutory regulations, and procedures. In the measures to develop and maintain effective measures of internal control, they have to sign the accounts. This accountability is personal to the committee. I want to say that we did a lot of work on this about 13 years ago, and David was on the committee then. We developed a protocol for the appearance of deputy ministers before the committee. That protocol was approved by the committee, but it was also subsequently ratified by the House of Commons, so it is part of the parliamentary law of this institution.
I urge every member to read it and to be familiar with it. You're going to find situations of the Privy Council or the executive not necessarily agreeing with the protocol. What is paramount is Parliament itself, which will determine its own accountabilities, so you people, acting as a committee, will determine whom you call, when you call them and the questions you ask. I think that's a very important point, and I urge every member to become familiar with it.
The next point, very briefly, is on witnesses. It would generally be the accounting officer. That person could bring whatever technical resources he or she needs. My recommendation would be to be tough and fair, but be professional with all witnesses. One problem I had as a chair was that sometimes the witnesses started to ramble and be evasive. As chair, you have to lower the boom very quickly on that kind of behaviour. Perhaps, before the meeting starts, you could warn them that you aren't going to put up with that, and make that the culture of the committee. One trick that members can use, if you're not getting complete answers, is to just ask the witness to give a full report on that issue and file a report with the clerk of the committee, and the clerk will subsequently distribute it to the members of the committee. They don't like that, but then you will have established that culture that says you want answers and you want clear and succinct answers.
The next point I want to cover is action plans, which are very important. A lot of times this completes the circle. We have the auditor's performance report. We have the auditor's recommendations, the government's response, the hearing and the PACP report. That was the end of it then, but now we have the action plans in there, but there has to be follow-up to the action plans and follow-up to see that they are doing what they promised they would do. If the committee sees any slippage or sees that departments or agencies are not doing what they promised to do, call them back before the committee and just make sure of the full circle.
My final comment or remark, Madam Chair, is that you do have a tough job in a minority government. You have to balance the fundamental role of the committee with the directions of the government and the two opposition parties. I recommend that you try to develop a very close relationships with the Auditor General and perhaps with the comptroller general and the committee staff, of course. Again, a lot of your time will be spent planning future agendas and providing leadership to the planning of the committee's work. As David says, you try to seek unanimity on your reports, if it's possible. In my tenure as chair, I think there were only about two occasions when I recall that we did not have unanimous reports, so it generally will work out. Of course, you must maintain order and decorum.
One other thing that I thought worked well, Madam Chair, is, when I was around—and it depends on the personalities—I always felt it beneficial to have socials with the staff of the Auditor General and your committee, perhaps your staff, and get together. There used to be—of course, you don't have it now—a separate room off the dining room, but I don't know what's there now. I always found it beneficial when people could discuss things in a more relaxed setting and get to know each other better, and these events, I thought, worked very well.
I think maybe I am out of time, and I just want to say again that it's been a pleasure to be before this committee. I wish you and every member of the committee all the best.