Public Accounts committee  I think the report overall is quite positive on the steps taken by the secretariat. We refer to things like coordinating activities among departments, encouraging departments to improve their practices, supporting interdepartmental committees, supporting pilot projects, and some

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely, there would be many other programs other than the ones we looked at.

Public Accounts committee  That was the focus of the audit, to look back at our 2006 audit and assess the recommendations we made then, and to assess the progress the government had made against those recommendations. Our audit criteria were established based on the work we had done previously, to then d

Public Accounts committee  As you indicated, our overall conclusion, which would have included all of the organizations we looked at, was that the federal government had adequately implemented the 2008 action plan. Again, there were some areas where there's still room for improvement, but overall we determ

Public Accounts committee  Certainly, one of the things we stated in the chapter was that that had happened, yes.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to discuss our office's work related to Chapter 2 of our fall 2012 report—Grant and Contribution Program Reforms. With me today is Frank Barrett, the principal responsible for this audit. The federal government transfers

Public Accounts committee  I'm happy to be here to day to highlight the findings of our special examination of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation presented in chapter 6 of our 2012 spring report. I'm accompanied by Nicholas Swales, the principal who led the work. Our audit covered the period from Nove

Public Accounts committee  That would certainly be best practice. If there were a bit of an inventory of what skill sets were required, and then an assessment of what the existing members have against that sort of inventory, the gaps would be the areas in which you would get outside assistance.

Public Accounts committee  Again, without having actually gone in and audited what they're doing, I think you've probably characterized it fairly well. It sounds as though they are being proactive, that they've made a step in the right direction. Maybe something a little more formal would be the best pract

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I think that fundamentally, the first thing to recognize is that there is a challenge when you're dealing with a three-member board. That's something that needs to be well considered. In terms of the specific question, it's good that the board is assessing each situat

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to discuss chapter 6 of our spring 2012 report, which covers special examinations of crown corporations that were issued in 2011. In particular, we will be discussing the special examination of the Canadian Dairy Commission. O

Public Accounts committee  We have indicated in paragraph 5.28, Mr. Chair, a number of those different issues. They are stated there. There are things like the state of runways in 1999, pilot fatigue in 2001, and so on. They are itemized there in paragraph 28.

Public Accounts committee  This audit was not intended to answer the question about whether this approach is the right approach or not. What we identified was that the approach was consistent with what the international community was recommending. It was also taking into account, in this instance, that for

Public Accounts committee  I'll ask Mr. Laplante.

Public Accounts committee  In general, I would characterize the audit—and remember that this is at the point in time that we did the audit and reported on it, and things have happened since— by noting that the department had put in place a system that was consistent with international standards, and that w