Public Accounts committee  I can't give you that number at this time. I apologize. I don't have it.

Public Accounts committee  We'd be happy to.

Public Accounts committee  In that context, in the area of transport and my experience in a number of other domains of the government, being smarter about using all the research in the world has been a growing trend among regulatory authorities. In the area of transport, we do work closely with our U.S. counterparts to Transport Canada in sharing research.

Public Accounts committee  The answer is yes. We pull information from manufacturers and other government agencies. I don't know how many vehicles the U.S. agency crashes. I'm pretty sure they crash a lot more than we do—don't they, Kim? The manufacturers have a lot of information as they're developing vehicles, and for sure they do their own crash testing.

Public Accounts committee  The minister has a number of priorities for Transport Canada. They start with safety in all domains. They include modernizing the organization. The comprehensive review process referred to a few minutes ago has been an extensive effort over the last year to identify areas where we can improve our regulatory processes and modernize our oversight practices.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, first and foremost, I agree with the concerns raised by the member about past activities in the group. We have wholeheartedly accepted the Auditor General's recommendations, and we have already initiated changes. I can commit to you, as the deputy minister of the department, that we are committed to ensuring that we have a world-class regulatory agency, both in terms of the development of regulations, in terms of compliance, and in terms of enforcement.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, the member raised a number of key issues. First, I apologize. There was a miscommunication between the department and the committee. We thought the officials we had sent to the last meeting were aligned with the expectations of the committee. It turns out that we were woefully wrong.

Public Accounts committee  If you'll permit it, Mr. Chair, I'll take a shot at answering this. This was a clear request. The companies are complying on a voluntary basis. So far we're tracking who is and who is not. This speaks to Bill S-2. Should Bill S-2 receive royal assent, then Transport Canada would have a much stronger set of authorities and powers to compel information from manufacturers.

Public Accounts committee  Just to clarify, we'll be proactively reaching out to them in our future regulatory initiatives. Whereas before we waited for them to come to us, now we're going to go to them.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I think there are two parts to that. In this matter, we have taken some steps that respond directly to the recommendation of the Auditor General that we get manufacturers to provide information on their internal processes. I believe we've written to all of the manufacturers.

Public Accounts committee  It will be a combination of them. One key change is that we're going to be more consistent in reflecting what we hear from these different groups, capturing that, and communicating it to others to add transparency to the process. I think at this point, Kim, you may want to jump in and add a few more details on what we're doing to deliver on this commitment.

Public Accounts committee  I think you've hit on a key issue. I would suggest that in the past, Transport Canada has relied too much on the formal consultation process and the fact that this formal consultation process is for all Canadians. The proposals are published in the Canada Gazette; they're published on our website, and we are explicitly inviting comments from all Canadians.

Public Accounts committee  The short answers would be, yes and yes. I would add, just to elaborate on this point—because I think it's a really important one—that when you have a number of objectives and one of them is safety, you need to determine where safety sits among those objectives. In the operating priorities of the department and according to the direction of the minister, safety is first.

Public Accounts committee  I do this very gingerly because if you're not careful here, you could find yourself contemptuous of Parliament. Bill S-2 is actually coming back, I think, for the transport committee in the near future, and we cannot presume the final result of Parliament's treatment of Bill S-2.

Public Accounts committee  I think the department would be pleased to come back to the committee at whatever time is suitable for the committee. At that time I would propose, and we'll have to do the work, that we would walk through and specifically lay out and describe the milestones of implementation and action in delivering on the committed plan in each of the seven areas where the Auditor General had concerns and recommended action.