Mr. Speaker, the government has made no such decision. I think the member is maybe presuming upon a budget decision, but she should wait until the budget is brought down.
Lost his last election, in 2006, with 41% of the vote.
Child Care February 16th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the government has made no such decision. I think the member is maybe presuming upon a budget decision, but she should wait until the budget is brought down.
Auditor General's Report February 16th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, if the member would take the time to read the Auditor General's report, he would find that she said exactly the opposite of that. She noted improvements in the appointments and qualifications of people appointed to boards.
However, tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock I will be tabling the report, and he can review the actions that we are attempting to take and judge for himself.
Auditor General's Report February 16th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I do not know where the member has been for the last number of years because the foundations have willingly come before Parliament many times.
In the agreement that they were given by the government, their requirements were independent evaluations which must be presented to the responsible minister and made public, provisions that allow the responsible minister to carry out special independent program evaluations and audits of compliance.
The tools the Auditor General is looking for are all there. Parliament has them and may want to use them.
Auditor General's Report February 16th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, it is certainly not true. If the member would like, I will quote what the Auditor General of Canada said this morning on CBC Radio. She said:
We don't have any issues with the people who are there and I wouldn't want any of our comments to be taken as a criticism of those people nor of the activities that are going on in the foundations.
On the issue of accountability, as a result of legislation presented in the House by the current Prime Minister when he was finance minister, foundations are required under the funding agreements to provide information to the public. Plans are provided annually to the responsible minister and Parliament.
Auditor General's Report February 15th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, let me quote again:
...we cannot state unequivocally that the government's method of accounting for foundations contravenes the accounting standards established by the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.
In other words, the foundations are accounting exactly as they should be.
The report went on to say that provisions for corporate plans and annual reports have improved, that most foundations provided information on how much money was spent and how many projects were funded. It also stated, “We found more information each year on foundations in the estimates documents of the sponsoring departments”.
The Auditor General had a great deal to say about this.
Foundations February 15th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, in the foreword to the Auditor General's report members will see that she comments on the fact that there have been enormous problems in the management of large, publicly traded institutions. A lot of changes have taken place in the Ontario Securities Commission and in the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley. We decided to take a look at all of that so we could provide the most modern, up to date, comprehensive review of the governance of crown corporations in 20 years. I will be tabling that at 10 o'clock on Thursday morning.
Foundations February 15th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I know the member has a deep interest in this topic and we have talked about it many times.
I want to inform him and other members of the House that at 10 o'clock on Thursday morning I will be tabling the government's report in response to the Auditor General's concern, the result of nearly a year's work looking at how we modernize the accountability regime for crown corporations.
Foundations February 15th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, there are two separate issues.
The first issue is the government's policy decision to put some amounts into foundations so they could be delivered, not by politicians, but by peer review to research institutions. As the Prime Minister has pointed out, if members talk to the university presidents across this country they will find huge support for this foundation.
On the issue of reporting, they all have audited financial statements. They appear before House committees when asked. They are subjecting themselves to evaluations. There is a dispute about how this gets done. We are working with the Auditor General and we will get to a conclusion.
Foundations February 15th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, if the member would like to take the Auditor General's words, let me give him a few.
The government is committed to better reporting in foundations' corporate plans and summaries and their annual reports, and in the Estimates reports of sponsoring departments.
She went on to say that a number of improvements had been made to the framework for the accountability of foundations. In fact, the new Comptroller General is working closely with the Auditor General. Significant improvements have been made. I would invite any committee in the House to call any one of the foundations before it if it has concerns. However if they are suggesting that the foundations are mismanaging or illegally managing funds, they should say so.
Foundations February 15th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I hope the member is not suggesting that there is a problem with the way the foundations are spending their money. Certainly they are accounting for it in all possible manners and are quite willing to have evaluations. All the foundations in our sample have provisions for a financial statement and a report by an external auditor. Some foundations have included significant evaluation findings in their annual reports.
There is a dispute about whether or not the government should be directing the allocation of research funding. We prefer to use an independent peer review and I think the government continues to be of that view.