Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, February 22, 2017 -

Global Affairs Canada needs to consider making legislative changes to allow the members of the International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC) Board of Governors to serve until a replacement is found, and IDRC needs to move to staggered terms and improve its strategic planning, risk management, and performance measurement and reporting – according to a report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts tabled today in the House of Commons by Ms. Alexandra Mendès, Vice-Chair of the Committee.

In the Fall of 2016, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) released a special examination report in which it examined whether the systems and practices that it selected for examination at IDRC “were providing it with reasonable assurance that its assets were safeguarded and controlled, its resources were managed economically and efficiently, and its operations were carried out effectively.”

The examination determined that, with the exception of the significant deficiency in IDRC’s Board complement, there were no significant deficiencies in the IDRC’s systems and practices examined for corporate management and the management of research projects and donor agreements.

The Committee commends the Centre for having properly implemented corrective measures for two of the three recommendations of the OAG, and will monitor IDRC’s progress in implementing its proposed corrective measures for improving its strategic planning, risk management, and performance measurement and reporting.