Public Accounts committee  Very quickly, Mr. Chair, the Office of the Auditor General has not yet completed the audits of the First Nations Statistical Institute for the years ending March 31, 2008, 2009, 2010, or 2011, because the agency itself has not yet been in a position to present audited financial statements to us for audit.

Public Accounts committee  I will be very quick, Mr. Chair. Our comments on measuring jobs apply to only one of the three programs that we audited, the community adjustment fund; that particular program had an objective specifically related to creating or maintaining jobs. Given that it established that objective, we expected that they would have had some mechanism to track the actual job creation.

Public Accounts committee  I am not sure, Mr. Chair. The methodology for counting jobs—part-time jobs, determining whether or not they're related to a particular project, downstream effects of spinoff jobs—is extremely complex. I don't think any country in the world--that I'm aware of--has developed a methodology to do that well.

Public Accounts committee  I apologize for the long answer.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman. The first point I will make is that, as I think the member is alluding to, the Government of Canada has been in the business of issuing visas for a long time. This is an important function for the health, safety, and security of Canadians.

Public Accounts committee  What we saw with respect to KIP, the knowledge infrastructure program, Mr. Chair, was consistent with what we saw in the other two programs. The public servants who were involved in administering and delivering these projects did a good job. They monitored these projects very carefully, with frequent reporting, took corrective action where necessary, and ensured that those projects were delivered as expected.

Public Accounts committee  Well, as I indicated, Mr. Chairman, the Department of National Defence is exploring two new approaches to contracting for maintenance and repair of military equipment. I believe both of those approaches hold promise for improving the availability of the equipment and reducing costs.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, Mr. Chairman, they were.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very sincerely for the kind comments. I will ask Mr. Maxwell to comment on the specific question dealing with the AgriStability program.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman. We have undertaken, as the member has indicated, a strategic and operating review of the Office of the Auditor General. I shouldn't speak for the other agents of Parliament, but my understanding is that the other agents of Parliament are undertaking similar reviews of their organizations.

Public Accounts committee  Very briefly, Mr. Chairman, I will try to go from memory of what's included in my letter. With respect to the performance audit practice, the work we're discussing here today, we are proposing that we would continue at roughly the same level of activity we're presently doing. We reduced that practice a number of years ago in response to funding pressures we were facing at the time.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, I'll ask Mr. Maxwell to answer that question.

Public Accounts committee  Pardon me, Mr. Chair.

Public Accounts committee  Very briefly, Mr. Chair, Health Canada will have to comply with the laws of the land in what information it discloses, so if there are legal requirements that prevent it from disclosing information, I don't think you can categorically say it is going to ignore the laws of the land.

Public Accounts committee  In my opinion, the Department of National Defence has been successful to date in ensuring that military equipment is properly repaired and maintained, but it does face significant challenges and opportunities going forward in continuing to be able to provide that level of support.