Finance committee  You raise a very important question, as we try to tackle the timing of when we might want to do certain audits, when there is a program that has a two-stage tiering to it, sort of an eligibility criteria and then, depending on whether or not certain factors are met further down the line, there's a forgiveness or a repayment that's needed.

Finance committee  There are a few examples we can look to. There are provinces across our country that have an independent funding mechanism, and there are also the U.K. and New Zealand that have such a mechanism. While we can look to those to inform what we might want to come up with, I do think it's something that even Parliament plays a role in helping shape.

Finance committee  When we received the requests to audit the investing in Canada plan and the COVID-19 response, other audits were under way, so we had to postpone a few. Instead of tabling them in 2020, we will be tabling them in 2021. In addition, as you pointed out, we had to cancel or, rather, postpone certain audits to a future date to be determined.

Finance committee  I think some of what we've learned from the past cuts and maybe what COVID is teaching us.... Back in 2016 or so, when the entire government went through a reduction in its budgets, we did what we felt was the right thing for us to do as Canadians, and also looked at ourselves and took some cuts.

Finance committee  I don't know if I could put a year on it. Whether it would be three years or five years, I have no clue. I don't think I could put a year on that. I think what's important to note is that when it comes to technology, it's growing exponentially. We're seeing that in the financial audit world and in the performance audit world, that reliance on IT systems being able to tackle large amounts of data.

Finance committee  Thank you, Andrew. It came to mind just as you mentioned it.

Finance committee  Yes, obviously.

Finance committee  Thank you for the offer on flexibility. I appreciate that. As you can recall, most of our audits take about 12 to 18 months to complete, and with the little delays with the pandemic, some flexibility is always greatly appreciated. Let me take that back and look at it. As far as it comes to funding, as I mentioned, today is probably day 11 since my nomination, so we've been working hard over the last couple of weeks in looking at the historical ask and then refreshing it and amending it for all that's happened since then.

Finance committee  We're almost at a point where I believe we could publish a list of topics that we're considering looking at. The way we've tackled the broad spectrum of what's going on in COVID is that we've looked at it in a short-term, a medium-term and a long-term aspect. In the short term, in addition to looking at overall preparedness, we are planning and have started to look at personal protective equipment, at Canada's food supply and....

Finance committee  Our intention is to do a performance audit. We will be looking at the outcomes of the plan, as well as trying to look at the complete list and the nature of the projects within the plan.

Finance committee  Obviously, I think it's fair to say that we'll expect some delays. COVID has impacted not only us but also the departments we audit. While we have begun, I do expect that there will be some delays in being able to complete a full audit from start to finish. Our best is that we are trying to get something to you in the early part of the new year.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for inviting us to discuss the planned audit work of our office, including the work on the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With me today is Andrew Hayes, deputy auditor general and interim commissioner of the environment and sustainable development.