Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister's questions are very well framed, as was his spirited and vigorous defense of the department on the aspect of a perceived conflict in our committee of the whole yesterday afternoon.
My perspective, Mr. Speaker, is not that this is an attack on the philosophy of combining the mandates of those who protect and those who should promote our resources. Rather, it is a test of the success of that philosophy. I indicated in my remarks in committee of the whole that I believe it is a positive and proactive way of achieving better delivery of services.
The audit, Mr. Speaker, was called for as a test, as a review of the success and the progress of the department to date. It is certainly my hope that such a review would show where areas could be improved and where we can continue this very proactive and very positive effort.
I also appreciate the Minister's remarks about bringing someone in from the outside to have a look at this and tell us what our own business should be. The office of the Auditor General has done very good work for this government. It is perceived, I think, or felt that their conduct of this audit would indeed be an objective one. They bring in a field of experience and a scope of knowledge from other jurisdictions that I believe could help us.
Another factor in this, Mr. Speaker, is that it has been the practice of the Auditor General to do a comprehensive audit of one of our departments on an annual basis. This is done, Mr. Speaker, at no charge to this government. Those are the justifications for proceeding with this audit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.