Media Advisory—Tabling of the 2019 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada

Media Advisory—Tabling of the 2019 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada—Tuesday, 7 May 2019

Ottawa, 15 April 2019—The 2019 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada will be tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 7 May 2019.

Media lock-up

Journalists accredited by the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery are invited to attend the Office of the Auditor General of Canada’s media lock-up to be held Tuesday, 7 May 2019, from 6 am (Eastern TimeET). Please proceed to the Office of the Auditor General of Canada’sOAG’s security checkpoint on the main floor of 240 Sparks Street, West Tower. Please be prepared to present photo identification.

Thank you for bringing your Wi-Fi enabled laptop or tablet to the lock-up so that you can connect to our secure wireless network to access an embargoed copy of the 2019 Spring Reports and other related material, as well as the OAG’s website. We will unlock the wireless network once the reports are tabled in the House of Commons so that you can file your articles without delay. Please note that very few paper copies of the reports will be available for distribution.

Journalists may leave the media lock-up only once the reports are tabled in the House of Commons, shortly after 10:00 am.

Press briefing

Journalists in Ottawa who are accredited by the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery are invited to attend the press briefing where experts will be available to answer questions (all answers for attribution):

11:00 am to 12:00 pm (ET)
National Press Theater, 150 Wellington Street, Ottawa

All Canadian journalists can join the news conference via teleconference.
Phone numbers: 1-866-206-0153 / 613-954-9003
Access code: 8049954#

Interviews

To book an interview about the 2019 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada, please call 1-888-761-5953 or email infomedia@oag-bvg.gc.ca.

The 2019 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada are as follows:

Report 1—Call Centres. This audit focused on whether Employment and Social Development Canada; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; and Veterans Affairs Canada provided clients with accessible and timely call centre services. At Employment and Social Development Canada, we looked at call centres for Employment Insurance and for the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security. We also examined whether these departments reported on their call centre performance in a way that was relevant to clients, transparent, consistent, and verified to confirm accuracy. The audit also focused on whether the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Shared Services Canada provided a strategy and support to enable these services.

Report 2—Equipping Officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This audit focused on whether the Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceRCMP provided its officers with hard body armour and semi-automatic weapons called carbines. The audit also looked at officer training on the use of carbines and pistols and at the maintenance of those firearms.

Report 3—Oversight of Government of Canada Advertising. This audit focused on whether the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Public Services and Procurement Canada provided adequate oversight to ensure that the Government of Canada was meeting its commitment to non-partisan advertising.

Report 4—Processing of Asylum Claims. This audit focused on whether the Canada Border Services Agency; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; and the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada consistently processed asylum claims in an efficient and timely manner.

Report 5—Taxation of e-commerce. This audit focused on whether, according to their respective roles and responsibilities, the Canada Revenue Agency, the Canada Border Services Agency, and the Department of Finance Canada ensured that the sales tax system for e-commerce was neutral and that the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales TaxGST/HST tax base was protected.

Special Examinations of Crown Corporations. We will also be providing Parliament with copies of our reports on the special examinations of the following Crown corporations: Business Development Bank of Canada, Canada Post Corporation, Marine Atlantic incorporatedInc., and National Museum of Science and Technology.

The 2019 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada will be available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada Website immediately following tabling.

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