Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the Auditor General for her work and to the officials for their attendance today.
I'm appreciative that the report reinforces that agricultural temporary foreign workers are an integral part of the workforce that supports Canada's food system.
Of course, the report documents growers' concerns about delays in the audit process, and those delays have affected the grower compensation support programs. The report also validates growers' concerns about the unmanageable volume of new guidance that they were expected to stay on top of and, indeed, it provided a challenge for the inspectors as well.
I wish the report would more strongly acknowledge the existing oversight by municipal and provincial agencies, but overall, it is scathing in its evaluation of the performance of the department.
To the Auditor General, in numerous places, such as paragraphs 13.24 to 13.29, evidence of poor documentation of audits is reported. In December 2020, you took the rather unusual step of meeting with the deputy minister and senior department officials to discuss the seriousness of these early audit findings regarding the quality. Is that correct?