There were many questions in there. I'll try to answer them all.
A foundation is another arm's length away from the federal government than a Crown corporation is. That, in and of itself, usually would make it ineligible for my office to audit. We are not the auditors of the foundation. The reason we could go to a foundation is that it is funded solely by federal money. It's the contribution agreement that existed between the Government of Canada and the foundation that gave me the conduit to go in and see whether public funds were spent in a prudent way.
The tie to the department was that Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada had responsibility for monitoring compliance with that contribution agreement. That compliance structure was actually set out in the contribution agreement. It wasn't just about receiving corporate plans, which they did receive, or minutes, which they did receive, but also about how they should have been auditing compliance with the contribution agreement to make sure that public funds were being used in a prudent way.
You asked about things that were unusual. That relationship was an unusual one. It's quite unusual for a department to be so involved with an organization that is at an even further arm's length from the government than a Crown corporation is.
The corporate structure set up in the Sustainable Development Technology Act is an unusual one. There is not only a board of directors, but also a group of members that is meant to be self-sustaining and to appoint the members. That is an unusual corporate structure. We found that there were challenges in the act's being respected. In fact, one of our findings was that the board of directors of the foundation didn't ensure that the foundation continued to comply with aspects of its enabling legislation.
I hope I've covered all of the elements in your question.