That's perfect.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing today and for your work throughout the pandemic. All your efforts are much appreciated.
Thank you to the chair for filling in today for Mr. Williamson. It's much appreciated.
I just want to start out with a brief statement, and then I'll get into my question.
I believe that a robust economic development department is absolutely critical to a prosperous economy, because it spurs innovation in both the public and private sectors. Throughout the world we've seen numerous examples—in Europe, in Asia and even in some of the states in America—of how they've worked through impressive public-private collaboration and an unrelenting commitment to results, and economies have been materially lifted by competent, agile economic development departments.
Unfortunately for Canada, I fear we're not there yet. We appear to be a laggard in both innovation and economic development. As a starting point for reform and improvement, having accurate information will be required as the foundation for critical decisions that will need to be made in the coming years to reform Canada's economic development investments.
Therefore, I'm deeply troubled by the inaccurate information that was revealed in the Auditor General's report. One of the key metrics in determining the success of taxpayers' investments is jobs maintained or created.
Could the Auditor General please enlighten this committee with her thoughts and maybe expand on her earlier comments with respect to how accurate the reporting of jobs maintained and created by the CFDCs was?