Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning.
I'd like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples.
I am pleased to be here to support this committee in its study of the service, maintenance and storage garage building built by the National Capital Commission, or NCC, at Rideau Hall.
To do that, Mr. Chair, allow me to provide an overview of the relationship between the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, the Department of Public Services and Procurement and the NCC.
In 2015, the government published the “Open and Accountable Government” document, which sets out the framework for portfolio management and identifies the roles and responsibilities of ministers and their departments. This framework includes the central tenet of ministerial responsibility on a range of administrative, procedural and institutional matters.
As this committee knows, Crown corporations play an important function for the government in their capacity to operate at arm's length and deliver upon government priorities in a way that more closely resembles private entities as opposed to government departments. They benefit from considerable operational autonomy and are governed by part X of the Financial Administration Act.