Fisheries committee  Specifically, you'll see in our report that we found at least four companies where there were serious conflicts of interest. The department did not act on those areas.

Fisheries committee  I just wanted to make a suggestion. The public accounts committee that the Auditor General reports to when he does his audits requests that the department provide an action plan in writing on a six-month or annual basis. It would be within your jurisdiction, and it's almost your job, to take the recommendations of the audit and to ask the department to provide you with a written update on a periodic basis so you find out whether or not the recommendations have been implemented.

Fisheries committee  Until those 12 rebuilding plans for the stocks that are in the critical zone have been developed, I would be uncomfortable providing you that assurance, based on the standards of audit that we use, that the Auditor General uses. It is disconcerting to me that we have 12 stocks in the critical zone, and they're supposed to have rebuilding plans in place.

Fisheries committee  I'm an auditor, although I don't think of myself as an auditor but in the Office of the Auditor General. I can only give you what is in our document, and what is in our document is that 12 plans are not there.

Fisheries committee  It was the most disconcerting finding, from my perspective, given why I started the audit. I started the audit because I wanted to make sure that we weren't headed towards another collapse. I wouldn't want that to happen. When I read the team's findings, I saw this bit about 12 stocks that are considered to be in the critical zone, but we continue to fish them and there's no rebuilding plan.

Fisheries committee  I think it's next spring. What are we now? It's February 2017, so it would be the spring of 2018, probably March, April, May.

Fisheries committee  It is the federal department. I am the federal commissioner of the environment and sustainable development. I do not audit. I work in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. That's the supreme audit institution that audits federal departments. It is not within my mandate to audit at the provincial level.

Fisheries committee  We have limited resources in terms of how we develop our audits. Audits can be this big, and they can be this big. Depending on the size of the team, you have to make a decision. In our section called “Focus of the audit”, we indicate clearly in 2.8 what the focus of the audit is.

Fisheries committee  We did not look at the impact of the new Fisheries Act on the management of the fish stocks in this audit. One thing we did notice though was that the reductions in funding that DFO had were probably the reason why, as Mr. Stringer mentioned, they focused on the most important commercially viable stocks in order to do the IFMPs, and that's why there were 110 of them and not all 154 of them.

Fisheries committee  We've put that in our report.

Fisheries committee  We were just telling our dear colleague that the next audit we're going to be doing will be looking at aquaculture. We have not done one that I know of, at least not in the last 10 years, but it's on its way.

Fisheries committee  Here in this audit we were looking at how the department was managing its framework and how it was going to sustainably manage all of the fisheries. We were looking at its methodology, all of the different parts of its programs such as the integrated fish management plans, its scientific surveys, and its at-sea observer programs.

Fisheries committee  Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I am thrilled to be here today. As commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, I report directly to the environment and sustainable development committee of Parliament, yet sustainable development is much broader than just the environment.

Natural Resources committee  Okay. Can I think about it? I have not yet appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. I would like to talk to the auditor general and ask his opinion. That would be my first appearance before that committee. I would be very pleased to have the opportunity because the audits I conduct are similar to those of the auditor general.

Natural Resources committee  I will get back to you with an answer on that.