Madam Speaker, I will repeat what I stated earlier, that wherever taxpayer dollars are involved, we should have the assurances that there is accountability. I would certainly support that aspect of the motion.
Each of these foundations does have an auditor. It has an annual report. It is reported to Parliament. There is an external auditor who goes through the process.
Specifically the motion calls for a performance audit but it also calls for the Auditor General to be appointed the external auditor for foundations. I have some difficulty with that.
The government operations and estimates committee, of which I am the past chairman, reviewed many of these foundations. It was very clear that the Government of Canada was not the sole funder of all of these foundations, and in fact did not have the majority of the members of the boards of directors. As a consequence, there are some of these foundations where the federal government does not have the authority, discretion or jurisdiction to appoint the Auditor General as the external auditor.
Having said that, I wonder if the member would consider asking the mover of the motion to amend the motion to add after the words “external auditor of foundations” the phrase “where such decision is the jurisdiction or discretion of the federal government”.