Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  There are a number of initiatives under way in departments. The Comptroller General, for example, wants to have departments produce audited financial statements by 2009, or at least to start to get there. He is also introducing audit committees that have external representatives.

Finance committee  What I can say is that generally in government there are three agencies that have been created with a different structure, if you will, from government departments. I would say the revenue agency is probably the most different of all. Rather than having a department with a depu

Finance committee  The agency recognizes and agrees with us, as I mentioned in this hearing we had just a couple of weeks ago. They were talking about new systems they wanted to put in to do data mining, which is obviously one of the ways to get there. We don't expect it to be resolved overnight.

Finance committee  In the audit on writeoffs, we were talking about accounts deemed uncollectable that are completely written off. Some efforts could be made in future if the account were to be reactivated, but the agency won't continue trying to do a lot of collection. In the last year, as Mr. Ho

Finance committee  That's not something we've studied or audited.

Finance committee  Those accounts go into various streams, depending on.... For some of them it's an automated system in which people will get a notice, phone calls, letters, all of that.

Finance committee  I think it's up to Revenue Canada to determine their own service standards. Again, we didn't look at that, but we're saying the longer you wait, the more difficult it is to collect. To have 50% over two years, they are obviously confident that they will get most of that, because

Finance committee  I believe the vision we're referring to is on the collections only, and they did indicate to a public accounts committee that they will come forward to that committee with an action plan in September. So this committee could also ask them for that detail if you were interested.

Finance committee  We have found that the agency's governance regime has advantages. The regime has brought greater rigour and more attention is paid to administrative aspects, which are obviously what concerns us the most. We haven't done a detailed audit of human resources, but it appears to us t

Finance committee  I'll ask Mr. Hood to respond. There is a fair percentage that is over two years; 50% is over two years old.

Finance committee  The taxpayer has 90 days in which to object. Once that 90 days is up, the account is considered in collection.

Finance committee  I presume that would be up to parliamentarians to hold them to account for what they've said in their plan.

Finance committee  I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. I think the analysis has to happen first.

Finance committee  That's really policy--big time.