2013 Legislative Session: Fifth Session, 39th Parliament

SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

MINUTES AND HANSARD

MINUTES SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

12 noon

Douglas Fir Committee Room
Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C.

Present: Bruce Ralston, MLA (Chair); Douglas Horne, MLA (Deputy Chair); Spencer Chandra Herbert, MLA; Kathy Corrigan, MLA; Eric Foster, MLA; Colin Hansen, MLA; Randy Hawes, MLA; John Horgan, MLA; Vicki Huntington, MLA; Kevin Krueger, MLA; John Les, MLA; Joan McIntyre, MLA; John Rustad, MLA; Shane Simpson, MLA

Unavoidably Absent: Lana Popham, MLA

Others Present: Josie Schofield, Manager, Committee Research Services

1. The Chair called the Committee to order at 12:03 p.m.

2. The Committee considered its draft report.

3. Resolved, that the Committee approve and adopt the draft report as amended today and further, that the Committee authorize the Chair and Deputy Chair to work with committee staff to finalize any minor editorial changes to complete the supporting text. (Douglas Horne, MLA)

4. Resolved, that the Chair present the Report to the Legislative Assembly at the earliest available opportunity. (Douglas Horne, MLA)

5. The Committee adjourned to the call of the Chair at 12:13 p.m.

The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.

REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS
(Hansard)

SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON
PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

Issue No. 25

ISSN 1499-4240 (Print)
ISSN 1499-4259 (Online)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

The committee met at 12:03 p.m.

[B. Ralston in the chair.]

Draft Committee Report

B. Ralston (Chair): I want to thank members for coming at fairly short notice. There's an agenda which has one item on it — to consider the review of the Summary of Activities, and it's before us. There are some minor amendments suggested, and I'm going to turn to the Deputy Chair just to take us through because they're all amendments that….

A Voice: In camera.

B. Ralston (Chair): Oh, I'm told that we're going to deal with this in camera. I don't know whether that's necessary. Actually, I think, given these amendments, it's probably okay.

Perhaps if the Deputy Chair could then take us through the proposed amendments quickly. I'm told that they're largely grammatical. Therefore, I think we can get quick agreement.

D. Horne (Deputy Chair): Basically, with my review, the changes are all non-substantive. Actually, most of them were reworded by the research office.

On page 3 at the end of the second-to-last paragraph it read "as much as it possibly can." It was just changed, to clean it up, to be "but organizationally, disclose as much information as it possibly can." It's basically just to clarify.

[1205]

Above…. It actually wasn't my change. I guess the research department went through and sort of found others as well. The "which was" was just to, basically, make this sentence stronger.

On page 4 "provide feedback" — just, again, grammatical. Before it said: "Provides to the central government." There just was no reference as to what they were providing.

J. Schofield: Page 2, I think, which may not be….

D. Horne (Deputy Chair): Was there one on page 2 too?

Oh, okay. Yes. The word "larger" replaces the words "more realistic." I felt that was more consistent with what was being said.

Page 7. It read before: "And if you haven't got the right words in it.…" I felt that "got" was a little bit…. It was changed. Josie changed it to "how much money is needed." If there is lack of clarity about what it's doing, you can read the rest of the sentence there. It cleans up that point.

On page 9 there was, at the end of…. Basically, "which was" was added to clarify the one sentence at the end of it. The plan to clarify what was part of the Office of the Auditor General's overall budget.

On page 12….

A Voice: Bottom of page 9.

D. Horne (Deputy Chair): Sorry, bottom of page 9. Okay, information.

Do you want to walk through them, Josie? Actually, I didn't have that one. Josie has made a few other changes.

J. Schofield: That was a suggestion made by the Clerk to the committee, Kate. It's just wordsmithing, actually.

D. Horne (Deputy Chair): Actually, Josie, do you want to walk through the rest? Some of them are mine, and some of them seem to be….

J. Schofield: Yes, page 12. That was my own edit. I just thought it was worded better in the singular than the original wording, so it's minor wordsmithing.

The top of page 15. Kate suggested clarifying the target for these management letters, which made a good suggestion, and I incorporated that.

So 16. Doug, you suggested rewording the question of accounting degrees.

D. Horne (Deputy Chair): Yeah. Before it read "knowledge base of people who have not got an accounting degree." I suggested that "not got" is not…. So we changed it to "without."

J. Schofield: Page 19 is basically my wordsmithing to make it clearer, particularly the highlighted sentence in the last paragraph, but also to clarify that the IFRS is a set of standards. On the record it was portrayed as being one standard, which isn't actually technically correct. I just actually added, instead of "it," meaning IFRS as a singular standard…. I tried to make it clear and accurate for the members.

D. Horne (Deputy Chair): Sure. For greater clarity, as well, on page 19 in the first paragraph, under "Intergenerational impacts." It's not highlighted, but in the fourth sentence there, which was one of my points as well, the original draft said: "He pointed out." It's been changed to "the CFO pointed out," just for clarity as to who "he" is.

I think that's it.

B. Ralston (Chair): That's it? Okay.

Any comments by members of the committee?

That's the sum of all the changes that are proposed.

[1210]

K. Corrigan: Sorry, I thought you were talking about that particular one.

I find the sentence at the bottom on rate-regulated accounting….

B. Ralston (Chair): What page are you on?

K. Corrigan: Page 19. I find it a little bit confusing, the way it's worded.

B. Ralston (Chair): That's the last sentence there?

K. Corrigan: The last one that's highlighted.

Committee Report to the House

B. Ralston (Chair): If there are no other…. I want to take any other suggestions. What we're going to propose is that the Deputy Chair will move a motion that would delegate the vice-Chair and myself to make any further changes that are necessary. The goal is to present this tomorrow in the House. Presumably, we would meet at some point today.

I don't want to cut anyone off, but….

J. McIntyre: Chair, with respect, though, I understand that that subcommittee was not formed at that last very quick meeting last week. Do we not have to do that first? The subcommittee doesn't exist yet.

B. Ralston (Chair): By the motion that's proposed, that will create the committee and authorize us to do that very limited work, I am advised by the Clerk.

Anything further? Assuming the motion passes, which may be a bit presumptuous at this point, we'll deal with that issue that you've raised. If there are no further comments…. Oh, and I wanted to welcome a new member to the committee, the MLA for Juan de Fuca.

D. Horne (Deputy Chair): I move that the committee approve and adopt the draft report as presented today and, further, that the committee authorize the Chair and Deputy Chair to work with the committee staff to finalize any minor editorial changes to complete the supporting text.

Motion approved.

D. Horne (Deputy Chair): I move that the Chair shall present the report to the Legislative Assembly at the earliest opportunity.

Motion approved.

B. Ralston (Chair): A motion to adjourn is in order.

Motion approved.

The committee adjourned at 12:13 p.m.

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