Public Accounts committee  I think what the report says, as well, is that these are rare, isolated instances. As I indicated in my opening statement, we have a huge volume of active files, 66,500 of them. We deliver services all over the country. We appear in court approximately 50 times a day nationally

Public Accounts committee  I think I'd give the same answer, that the example you're pointing to, happily, is an exceedingly rare example. The mechanism—

Public Accounts committee  I only know of isolated instances.

Public Accounts committee  The Auditor General's report talks of two. I don't know. I know it happens all the time that colleagues disagree at the beginning of the analysis of a file, but at the end of the day, I don't know of examples today of contradictory advice, beyond the ones identified by Ms. Fraser

Public Accounts committee  As a matter of fact, I was going to contradict myself. I don't think, in fact, from memory, that the advice in the firearms matter was contradictory. The two lawyers were asked for advice on consecutive days and gave slightly different answers...slightly different questions. It w

Public Accounts committee  Department lawyers have the necessary expertise in 90% of our cases. Sometimes, an area of expertise is not normally handled by the public service. We may have fewer services, or less expertise, in certain commercial matters. That happens quite rarely, however. It is not normal t

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Williams, 13 years is a long time—

Public Accounts committee  But I think, as I started to indicate in my answer to one of the previous questions, we have moved very rapidly to implement—or plan to implement—the recommendations of the last audit. Departments always say in their audit report that they agree and they'll do something about it.

Public Accounts committee  Paragraph 5.57?

Public Accounts committee  No. I think part of the challenge in managing the Department of Justice, and this area, is that we work with a number of different clients. We see this issue—

Public Accounts committee  Yes, sir. We are going to act much more quickly than that. I may stumble a little because I am going to try to answer you in French using notes that are written in English. We have done a lot since the Auditor General's report was tabled. We have made significant improvements in

Public Accounts committee  We agree with the Auditor General that it is important to have an evaluation process in place for alternative dispute resolution. It's too easy to talk favourably about ADR without knowing, necessarily, that it works. We've taken that recommendation to heart. We in fact have pla

Public Accounts committee  I don't know the date. I'll get it for you.

Public Accounts committee  I agree it would be better if such information were available to Canadians and to parliamentarians. We now report fully on all the information that is within our control. Some of the information that I think the question addresses and that the Auditor General's report addresses i

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. I'll address my remarks, if I can, to the management of civil agents, which is now the responsibility of the Department of Justice, as opposed to agents on the criminal side. In the last year we have spent a great deal of effort to put a framework in place that respe