Public Accounts committee  I don't really disagree with you, frankly; it's a very good point. As the accounting officer, when I sat down with my staff, I was a bit surprised that since 1941.... But setting that aside, in recent years the program had not been audited, because probably some of these things would have been picked up.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, I understand your question. Essentially the point you're making speaks to our enforcement and compliance responsibilities, which are discharged in part through inspections. It's not only that, frankly. The Auditor General did also pick up on certain documentation that was missing.

Public Accounts committee  This has been at the core of the issues we face in this audit. To be very clear with you, the basic financial base of that program is about $6.7 million per annum. In my career I've rarely seen a program being doubled by reallocation within a department. I guess someone can point to an exception, I'm sure, but normally a reallocation to a program is a top-up.

Public Accounts committee  Yes. Essentially, yes, from now on. We started that some months ago through an amendment to our form. They have to clearly indicate that in this contract there is no requirement. Before, that was not done, and it led to confusion. This is now done systematically.

Public Accounts committee  Actually, I would answer the following way. Departments have to comply with the government's security policy that my colleague Mr. Cochrane spoke about. So it outlines the requirements. They have to have a departmental security officer, we heard in DND, and it's the same thing for Public Works and any other department.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, essentially the terminology we use in government is the departmental security officer, and when we deal with a company we call them company security officers. So it has essentially, as an image, pretty much the same responsibilities. When there's a requirement for a company to meet certain demands, we as Public Works expect those demands to be carried out as a point of entry through the company security officers.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today. The Industrial Security Program plays an important role in keeping government information and assets secure when these are entrusted to the private sector as a result of a government contract.

Government Operations committee  Yes. I have just two points on this. I took the time to sit down with the staff, those individuals who are working hard to get rid of the backlog and also ensure that our statistics on the way forward are good—that is, you always have people leaving, and so on. So I showed some commitment in listening to them, and we had a bit of a chat.

Government Operations committee  Madam Chair, if I remember, I signed off a letter to you—or it might have been from the minister, frankly, going through my office—giving you the latest statistics. So the minister is accurate in what he said, actually. I don't think we have a backlog anymore, but I could be wrong.

Government Operations committee  Madam Chair, my understanding is that we provided a reply to the latest request--essentially the November 26 motion--on December 5. If I set aside what we provided on December 5, you can expect another shipment--I spoke of 2,000 pages--when they're translated. The translation is done on a priority basis; I ensured that myself.

Government Operations committee  There are a number of other documents that have been asked for by the committee, Madam Chair. We had a discussion with my staff, and together with the minister's office, we want to be as open as we can vis-à-vis the request. That request represents 2,000 pages, and they're being translated as we speak on a priority basis.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Minister. I'll just make two points, and I'll defer to my colleague, Mr. McGrath, to fill in the blanks. The approach Public Works took is essentially based on what the Department of Justice considers to be proper steps vis-à-vis consultation with aboriginal people, whether it is the Musqueam band or the Algonquin band.

Government Operations committee  Madame Chair, on that point about the judgment, the injunction was given with a view to not proceeding with the actual sale of those two buildings; the judge did not pronounce on the level or adequacy of consultation. My point here--and this is an important point--is that this is the subject of judicial review.

Public Accounts committee  It's been interesting, I must admit—very interesting. This will be a fair amount of work, I believe, and I'll just take it that way, quite straightforwardly.

Public Accounts committee  I think it would be somewhat improper for me to pass judgment after a couple of hours on the job, but I'll let Mr. Minto say a few words about this.