PACP Committee News Release
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Standing Committee on Public Accounts |
HOUSE OF COMMONS CHAMBRE DES COMMUNES OTTAWA, CANADA K1A 0A6 |
Comité permanent des comptes publics |
For immediate release
NEWS RELEASE
Public Accounts Committee Passes Protocol for the Accountability of Senior Officials
Ottawa, March 27, 2007 -
Parliament has scored an important victory in the long-standing challenge of extracting accountability from the government, said M.P. and Public Accounts Committee Chair Shawn Murphy on Monday, as the Committee adopted a protocol to govern the appearance of accounting officers before it to account for the administration of their departments.
"Today is an important day for accountability in Canada," said Mr. Murphy. "At issue is a disagreement between Parliament and the Government over the interpretation of the new Federal Accountability Act, which makes deputy ministers the accounting officers for their department."
Prior to the meeting of the Committee, the Privy Council Office published a parallel protocol presenting a much more narrow interpretation of the responsibilities of accounting officers. The Committee rejected this and firmly came down on the side of Parliament by passing the protocol by a vote of 6 to 4.
"It is for Parliament, and absolutely not for the government, to decide how to run its affairs. Parliament has an interest in seeing how responsibilities it has delegated to deputy ministers have been used,” said Mr. Murphy. “Today we have told the Government that we as the institution of Parliament will set the terms upon which we hold the Government to account for the way it spends Canadians’ money.”
The Committee’s protocol will now be presented to the House of Commons for concurrence, whereupon the guidelines would become binding, and witnesses will be compelled to comply with them.
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