Thank you, Mr. Chair. This motion is similar to previous motions the committee has made in response to Auditor General reports. Every year, we learn how to apply more specific language, and we feel this time we've got it right.
The audit function of the Standing Committee on Government Operations is crucial to good governance and serves the role of what would be called the public accounts committee in other jurisdictions. It's crucial that these reviews can be done to the best of the ability of the committee, assessing the best available information at the time. It's difficult to understand how a government is going to respond to the findings of an Auditor General report without a clear action or implementation plan that is preferably costed. That's exactly what this motion is calling for, and this does not apply solely to the department that was audited in this report, but to all future departments and agencies that come before the committee.
The Auditor General reports tend to be high-profile. They tend to have important recommendations that the public is interested in, and if the committee is going to give the opportunity to raise the concerns in the report, the full range of analysis, deliberation, and comment, then we need to see exactly how the government intends to respond.
This recommendation is driven to achieve that point that, in the future, now we are now moving to a cycle of two audits per year from the Auditor General's Office, that, when the departments appear before the committee, they will have something in hand for the committee to address, so the committee and the public has confidence that the recommendations of the Auditor General are, in fact, being delivered on. Further, the standing committee can then come back in six months or other intervals of time and say: how far along are you on your action plan? Which actions have been implemented? It gives the committee the ability to check in on departments as they proceed to address the findings of the Auditor General.
All too often, these reports can become "one and dones." There's one hearing at a point in time, and that's the last you hear of it. We need to move away from it as an Assembly, and ensure the committees have more on their plates to constantly look at the systemic issues and make sure they're being addressed. I encourage the government to take heed to this recommendation, and that, in the future, there will be comprehensive action plans and implementation plans in draft form made available to committee prior to a public hearing. Thank you.