Public Accounts committee  I'll go back to my earlier plea of focusing on productivity. I just look and wonder how much it costs inside the public service to produce the reports Parliament now gets. I think it would be interesting for Parliament itself to do an objective study of the extent to which it mak

Public Accounts committee  I'm delighted to be back.

Public Accounts committee  Yes. I may never be asked back to this committee again, but I did want to take advantage of this time when appearing here with Mr. Desautels to endorse his position, which I think is a very powerful one, about organizational health, because every time Mr. Desautels and I appeared

Public Accounts committee  So I would like to endorse that position, and I would be a bit stronger and say that this is exactly the role of the Treasury Board Secretariat. So the Privy Council Office has to deal with the deputy minister's appointment, issuing a recommendation to the Prime Minister. But the

Public Accounts committee  On the accounting officer, I'll just cite my former colleague, James Mitchell, who testified at the Senate committee on these measures. I endorse what he said, which is that “...the government has done Parliament and officials a great service by clarifying what is expected of pub

Public Accounts committee  I stand by my statement. I endorse the provisions of the current act.

Public Accounts committee  The senior personnel office in the Privy Council Office worries a lot about it. They have in mind someone who would replace someone. But as Mr. Desautels says, it's difficult for a deputy to be grooming a successor within the department. I'll just add this to underline the perc

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you for inviting me to give you a historical perspective of the role of the secretary to the Treasury Board. I would also like to thank the four members of the Committee for taking the time earlier this afternoon to meet with me as well as my col