Government Operations committee  We've dealt with, I think, over half of them.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much. That's a very good question and it will probably tax me to give a very good answer. I'll tell you what I think. You're absolutely right: the challenge, of course, is to have an efficient system that allows maximum interoperability in terms of market so that

Government Operations committee  I will ask Ms. Lojk to answer your question.

Government Operations committee  It's an excellent question. I want to clarify. I read the comments that were made and I thought, what exactly is going on? We have no certification program for glass shower doors under CGSB. We do not certify them. It would be the tempered glass. So as far as I understand what's

Government Operations committee  I'm going to answer that in a second. I'm sorry but I do want to clarify one thing, and I'm sure you've had this from a number of people who have appeared here. I do agree this is a very complex business. It has many different levels and it touches on many different areas. It's p

Government Operations committee  I'm going to turn to Begonia, because I know she wants to comment. I'll just say one more thing. I don't want to hog it here. The CSA, the Canadian Standards Association, which is the largest standards organization in Canada, began in the early 1930s along with CGSB. We existed a

Government Operations committee  I think that may be a slight part, but the majority of it was based on sound economics, to be honest with you. When we did the ISO 9000 and 14000 standards, we evaluated the total cost of doing the work using public servants versus the cost, after we did the audit detail plan, o

Government Operations committee  As you know, there's an annual review process for all executives in the Government of Canada. It's an annual process and it's based on setting clear objectives at the beginning of the year with every executive. These performance appraisals, of course, have to link to the individu

Government Operations committee  It does, because, of course, it's part of the public service. But the plans are specific for each one. For example, in the case of CGSB, Begonia will have specific key objectives that are unique to her role in this function. These are determined in part through a discussion with

Government Operations committee  Sure. I will turn to Begonia in a second to assist me in this answer, but I'll give you the knowledge I have to start. One area in which we have used consultants for some time is auditing. We employ auditors to help us deliver our ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certification programs.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much, and bonjour. Today I'm very pleased to once again appear before you to discuss the Canadian General Standards Board and how it engages Canadians in developing standards and providing conformity-assessment services to meet Canada's national interests. With m