Public Accounts committee  I believe that in previous testimony I've told the committee that this is a capital project that the NCC's board approved in their annual plan, and we don't usually target individual capital asset acquisitions within an organization.

Public Accounts committee  I can tell you that the foundational element of my office is being independent, and that's why it's important that I can choose whom we audit, when we audit and what we audit. I will always ensure that we have that right, and it is what makes the Auditor General's office unique.

Public Accounts committee  Once my reports are made public, they are on the public record. Any individual can use them as they would like. This is why I appreciate that when we come to committee, especially here in the public accounts committee, we appear when departments appear, so that we can tell you w

Public Accounts committee  My office is in the process of clearing the facts with the entities involved in our professional services contract. It is a lengthy one. There are 10 departments and 10 Crown corporations included in that. Our goal is to have that tabled very soon, before Parliament rises for the

Public Accounts committee  You began by asking how we've changed our approach and how we're going to take account of the ArriveCAN findings when conducting other audits. These days, I have to admit that, when we produce a report, we wonder whether we should consider some of the items identified during the

Public Accounts committee  We could examine contracting out processes and potential conflicts of interest in the course of various audits. We could step back and perform a more horizontal audit of all government programs. I'd like to see the government's response to the findings first, and give it time to

Public Accounts committee  I understand your question. Yes, work is needed on government procurement. There are lots of regulations right now. I'm concerned that the government could add more, when what we may really need is to step back a little and see if the regulations are overly complicated, if peopl

Public Accounts committee  I know Andrew wants to add here. I will just mention that my office will be celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2028. It has been around for a very long time and is an important institution for our democratic system, absolutely. Andrew will talk a bit more about funding mechan

Public Accounts committee  I've really built on some of the priorities of my predecessors, but we have had a really big push since I became Auditor General to ensure that sustainable development goals are considered in everything that we do. We even try to remind Crowns and remind the territorial legislatu

Public Accounts committee  Well, I will definitely see if Andrew wants to jump in on this. For a while he was our interim commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, so he probably has some thoughts for sure. I think that many departments, as we have shown through all of our audits, reall

Public Accounts committee  That's okay. I'd like to thank you, Mr. Chair. You're letting us go on and on.

Public Accounts committee  As an accountant, even I find some of these things confusing in the way estimates work in the budget. I can tell you that on average, our office's budget is about $130 million. It ebbs and flows based on the timing of things, such as retroactive payments for employees, but it i

Public Accounts committee  Normally, the way it works is that if economic increases are announced across our unrepresented employees, we wait for the Treasury Board to give us the okay to match those. The Treasury Board funds it, and you'll see our main estimates increasing to deal with that. When it comes

Public Accounts committee  We definitely see that the government is trying to move into that sphere. Some areas are. Statistics Canada is doing a lot of great work when it comes to data analytics. A lot of the outdated systems that the government currently has are a bit of a detriment, and I know that even

Public Accounts committee  It can, except you have to transition to it. You have to train people and you have to maintain it, and it depends on where you put that technology. If it's in the cloud, there's an ongoing cost other than just that initial investment. I don't think life cycle costing is always th