Public Accounts Committee on April 20th, 2021

[Dillan Theckedath, Committee Researcher]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

To the member's question, as the chair cited, we had a chair's meeting last week and we talked about some of the scenarios. The issue is that we have the nine reports that have been tabled recently, and then the Auditor General will be tabling two more. Do we want to, for example, study all 11 reports, which would mean that we would not be able to do draft reports for all of them in this current session by the end of June?

The thinking was—and of course it's up to the members to agree—that it might be easier if we were to review a draft report for something that was studied within the same month. Perhaps it might be easier for the members if we were to study the two reports that are soon to be tabled in the fall, and then, when the draft reports are made available, they'll be closer in mind and memory on some of those key issues.

I hope, Madam Chair, that this addresses your question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

I believe so.

Go ahead, Mr. Longfield.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Yes. I mean, I love the idea that we're coming back in the fall. Of course, we never know what might happen in the House.

I wonder about maybe doing some draft reports after.... Maybe what you were saying, Dillan, was that at the end of the month we could have a month-end meeting where we look at draft reports.

[Dillan Theckedath]

Absolutely. We have budgeted time to.... André can add to this, but we, the analysts, together with the clerk, have budgeted enough time to study the nine reports and will very likely have nine draft reports—at least eight, but possibly nine draft reports—ready by the middle to the end of June, meaning having all of the hearings held, translations done, notes taken, etc., and ready with draft reports for approval by the committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Does that answer your question, Mr. Longfield?

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Well, it's certainly aggressive. I'm just thinking of what kind of shape our brains will be in when we're going through the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh reports and whether we could maybe break it up a bit more to have us review four reports at a time.

[Dillan Theckedath]

Pardon me, Madam Chair and Mr. Longfield. I guess I wasn't clear.

No, it would not be all nine at once. We plan on doing a couple in about a month or so, and then there will be more hearings. It's like a daisy chain of hearings, draft reports, hearings and draft reports. It's like that. Certainly we would not task members with having to do that many in one day. In Mr. Sorenson's time, they did undertake seven in one day, but that's not a favourable position, no, sir—and Ma'am and everybody in the room.

The plan is to have a few meetings and then review a few draft reports, then have a few more meetings followed by a few more draft reports, and so on, to regularly see progress.

[The Clerk]

Could I get some clarifications, since I'll be contacting the witnesses? If we look at the calendar, we had scheduled meetings on reports from now until May 13. That would cover all of the reports currently referred to the committee, and then we'll start doing draft reports after the break week in May.

If I understand Dillan correctly, he's thinking of maybe doing some draft reports in the first weeks of May, and I just want clarity this so I can contact the witnesses to give them dates.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Yes, André.

[André Léonard, Committee Researcher]

In fact, we had scheduled an initial meeting on May 26, after spring break, to review the committee's draft report on the first three Auditor General's reports that we will have considered, the one on the Canada emergency benefit, the one on pandemic preparedness, which we're considering today, and the one on the Canada emergency wage subsidy. The following week, probably on June 1, we may examine three more reports. The following week, on June 8, we could look at three more reports.

That is the work schedule that has been drawn up at this time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

I see Mr. Longfield giving us a thumbs up.

Mr. Fergus.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

I completely agree with the proposed work schedule. However, I feel very guilty because of all the work that our analysts must do over the next 10 weeks. I would like to congratulate and thank them in advance for their work.

[Dillan Theckedath]

Thank you, Mr. Fergus.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Yes, thank you, Mr. Fergus.

Mr. Sorbara.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Madam Chair, I just wanted to say the same thing as my colleague Mr. Fergus.

I want to say thank you to the analysts for all of their work.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Thank you very much, Mr. Sorbara.

Colleagues, are you ready to adopt the work calendar as proposed?

Mr. Blanchette-Joncas.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I have a simple question for our analysts about planning.

I know that, in response to a motion passed by the House of Commons on the emergency response, the Office of the Auditor General must provide a report on the findings by June 1.

Are the analysts expecting more reports on COVID-19 by June 1? I realize that they can't respond on behalf of the Office of the Auditor General. However, in their opinion, should we save time for this as well?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Thank you, Mr. Blanchette-Joncas.

I know that we also talked about future reports, so I'll turn it over to André.

[André Léonard]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I believe that the Auditor General has already stated her intention to table two reports at the end of May. I'm not sure whether the tabling dates have been formally announced. However, we believe that one of these reports could be tabled at the end of the last week of May. This is set out in the proposed schedule. Basically, we would have enough meetings to consider both the committee's draft reports and the next two Auditor General's reports, although we don't yet know what those reports will cover. That said, it's quite possible that the committee won't be able to table its report on the last two Auditor General's reports submitted in late May, because we may run out of time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Thank you very much, André.

Colleagues, in answer to the question regarding the adoption of the work calendar as proposed, I saw thumbs up from most of you, if not all of you. I'll just remind you that Thursday's meeting will be on “Report 7— Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy”.

Is it now the committee's will to adjourn the meeting?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned.