Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses today.
Auditor General Hogan, in front of me is the notice of meeting, which says the topic of today's meeting is “Briefing on the Office of the Auditor General”, so you'll forgive me if I at least begin with a general question. My colleague MP Bradford touched on this.
Across the world we see democracies, established democracies, with real questions in front of them about their future. Crucial to that is the independence of institutions, including the offices of auditors general. How crucial is it that auditors general remain free to take up issues as they see fit instead of being pushed in that direction by political parties?