Public Safety Committee on May 31st, 2006

Evidence of meeting #5 for Public Safety and National Security in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was costs.

On the agenda

Chapter 4 of the May 2006 Report of the Auditor General concerning the Canadian Firearms Program

MPs speaking

Garry Breitkreuz
Tom Wappel
Serge Ménard
Joe Comartin
Laurie Hawn
Susan Kadis
Carole Freeman
Gord Brown
Maria Minna
Rick Norlock
Raymond Chan
Patricia Davidson

Also speaking

Sheila Fraser  Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
William Baker  Former Commissioner, Canada Firearms Centre, As an Individual
John Sims  Deputy Minister and Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice
Ian Bennett  Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Peter Kasurak  Senior Principal, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Wayne Ganim  Former Director General, Finance, Department of Justice, As an Individual
Beverley Holloway  Chief Operating Officer, Operations Directorate, Canada Firearms Centre

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

Thank you.

In conclusion, no one has asked you questions on one part of your report, about the employer-employee relationships that concern you. I was hoping there'd be more questions on that today. I read through your report very carefully, and you analyze the problems and expose a lot of the practices connected to the firearms program.

In my mind, they seem alarmingly similar to another study that you did. Do you see any parallels between what you observed here and the study that Mr. Gomery undertook?

5:30 p.m.

Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General of Canada

Sheila Fraser

Madame Freeman actually asked several questions about the contracting and the employer-employee relationship.

As I mentioned, we do have some additional work that we are continuing in certain contracts. I hesitate to make comparisons, though, with the sponsorship program, which I think was a very exceptional case.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

I want to thank you very much for the second report that you brought out. That was an excellent report. I wish all Canadians would read it.

I know our time is up. I'd like to thank all our witnesses. I appreciate the work you have done on this, and maybe at some other time we'll have to explore this further.

Thank you again.

5:30 p.m.

Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General of Canada

Sheila Fraser

Thank you.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

The meeting is adjourned.