Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, perhaps I could start. The consultation included of course the three territorial governments, but it also included other major stakeholders located in the territories—larger NGOs, private sector companies. It really was a consultation that tried to capture what people across the spectrum of interests wanted to raise with respect to economic development.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, there were two types of risk assessments done: one was for recipients and one was for projects. We found that the agency not only did the recipient risk assessment in terms of whether it was a high, medium, or low risk, but also did an analysis that justified the reason for the categorization.

Public Accounts committee  For the targeted investment program, the agency worked with each of the territories and collaborated with territorial stakeholders to identify priorities for each territory. After that consultation, they put together a five-year plan for funding projects in each of the territories.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, no. As the Auditor General mentioned, paragraphs 6.1 and 6.2 are intended to provide some background in terms of some of the challenges that the government faces in promoting economic development in the north. As the Auditor General mentioned, these challenges are long-standing and well known.

Public Accounts committee  No. I'll just add, Mr. Chair, that the focus of our work here, when we looked at the management regime, was—

Public Accounts committee  No, we did not.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, as we note in our audit report, in the period up until 2010, the department was not collecting sufficient performance information to report on SADI's objectives and whether they were being achieved. Since 2010, yes, the department is now collecting sufficient information to report on performance.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, starting in 2010-11 the department was collecting more of that performance information and including it in annual project benefits reports. Before that point in time, a lot of the information that was being collected wasn't getting at anticipated outcomes and benefits, so the department was not in a position to report fully on that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I can only respond to that by saying that, as we note in the chapter, the department historically has been using input data processing times and output data as a way to manage performance in the absence of service standards. As we stated in the chapter, to this point they've identified only four.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chair, I would just add to Mr. Ricard's statement. In our audit, we did of course scope two other departments.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No. To echo what Mr. Ricard said, it was outside the scope of our work.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As Mr. Ricard mentioned, our audit didn't specifically look at that particular thing. We looked at the extent to which the department identified service standards for its major programs and services at the corporate level. The one program we looked at in a bit more detail was the citizenship--

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chair, I'll start, and then we'll turn it over to CIC. As Mr. Ricard mentioned, the act of establishing service standards has several benefits, including increased accountability and transparency. We note this in several places in our chapter. It gives all stakeholders—the department, Canadians, new Canadians, members of Parliament—a better sense of what processing times are.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I can speak to a couple of examples. In the case of the Canada Revenue Agency, we note in the audit report that they did a lot of work 10 years back or so to identify what clients wanted and needed in terms of the main services they provide to Canadians. As a result of that, some of the standards identified include answering the phone within two minutes, 90% of the time, when someone calls one of their 1-800 numbers.

Public Accounts committee  Processing times are one of the variables we would be expecting a department to consider as it's trying to establish a service standard. There are also other variables that departments must and do consider when they're trying to establish standards. They have to balance the cost of providing a service against the timeliness.