37.1 This is the Office of the Auditor General's (OAG) first sustainable development strategy. It tells parliamentarians how we intend to integrate environmental and sustainable development considerations into our business as a legislative audit office, and how we will measure our success in doing so.

37.2 This Office has a long history of involvement in environmental and sustainable development issues. In particular, over the past decade it has been a leader in conducting audits related to the environment. The Auditor General Act was amended in December 1995 to formally incorporate environmental and sustainable development issues into our mandate. The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development was appointed by the Auditor General in 1996.

37.3 Our sustainable development strategy encompasses the three core dimensions of our activities: our audit operations, our day-to-day operations, and our human resources. The sustainable development goals for our audit work are to promote sustainable development by:

providing advice and information to parliamentarians and members of territorial legislative assemblies to help them consider the environmental and sustainable development consequences of their legislative and oversight work;
supporting federal and territorial organizations in their efforts to integrate environmental and sustainable development considerations into their decision making for policies, programs and operations;
providing a means for Canadians to draw environmental and sustainable development concerns to the attention of the Government of Canada.

37.4 Another goal we have is to minimize the negative environmental impacts of our day-to-day operations. Finally, we wish to support activities that recognize our employees as our greatest assets in pursuing our sustainable development goals.

37.5 Our strategy is action- and results-oriented: for each of our sustainable development objectives, we have identified the specific actions we need to take and have developed performance indicators that will help us monitor our progress toward achieving our goals and objectives.

37.6 The most pressing environmental and sustainable development issues facing government today cut across departmental mandates and political jurisdictions. Auditing these horizontal and cross-jurisdictional issues represents a challenge of integration and co-ordination for our audit teams as well as an opportunity to broaden our perspective.

37.7 Departmental sustainable development strategies represent a very important new tool for federal organizations. In addition to monitoring their progress, we will help strengthen the capacity of these organizations to build better strategies and implement them. Similarly, the petition process will create a more direct link with Canadian citizens wishing to express their concerns about the environment and sustainable development.

37.8 Globally, we believe we can make a difference in the quality of Canada's environment, and in its prospects for sustainable development.

Why a Sustainable Development Strategy for This Office?

What do we mean by sustainable development?

37.9 By sustainable development, we mean "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." (World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future , 1987)

37.10 Sustainable development is a constantly evolving concept based on the integration of social, economic and environmental concerns into the activities of private or public organizations.

37.11 Progress toward sustainable development requires an integrated approach to planning and decision making that involves evaluating economic and social solutions on the basis of their effects on the environment and natural resources, and ecological solutions on the basis of their effects on the economy and society.

The Auditor General Act and A Guide to Green Government

37.12 Following the amendments made to the Auditor General Act in December 1995, 24 federal departments and agencies are required to table sustainable development strategies in the House of Commons by 15 December 1997. The amendments to the Act also call for the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, who was appointed by the Auditor General in 1996, to review the departmental strategies. A Guide to Green Government , which was published at the time the amendments were made, presents key elements that departments should consider when preparing their strategies and suggests a way to develop and structure them.

37.13 This Office is not among the 24 federal organizations required to prepare a sustainable development strategy. However, given that sustainable development strategies are an extremely valuable planning tool for nearly all private or public organizations, we have decided to develop our own strategy and to table it in the House of Commons before 15 December 1997.

What our sustainable development strategy is ...

37.14 Our sustainable development strategy is designed to be comprehensive, results-oriented and developed through consultation:

c omprehensive because it covers the environmental and sustainable development aspects of our audit work and our day-to-day operations;
results-oriented because we have identified the actions we need to take and the indicators we will use to judge performance toward each of our sustainable development objectives;
developed through consultation because we have conducted an extensive communication and consultation campaign within the Office and with all our clients. These different points of view were extremely useful to us (see appendices A and B ).

37.15 Sustainable development is not a new concept for the Office. We have been taking environmental and sustainable development issues into account in our audits for more than 10 years. Similarly, the environment and sustainable development are one of the Office's five priorities for 1996-2001. Creating the position of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development and establishing his team in 1996 confirms the importance that Parliament and the Office attach to these issues.

... and what it is not

37.16 Our sustainable development strategy is not a substitute for the regular selection process for the audits we conduct.

Our objective is not to have environmental and sustainable development issues supersede other significant matters but rather to strike the right balance among the various issues that are important to Canadians.
The purpose of the sustainable development strategy and the upcoming environmental management system is not to create new systems or impose new inflexible processes. In both cases, existing systems will be used.
The strategy does not provide answers to all our questions and does not present guidelines on how we will integrate environment and sustainable development into our audit work. This will be achieved through the implementation of our action plan.

For whom is this strategy intended?

37.17 The Office's sustainable development strategy is intended for four main groups:

Members of Parliament, who are our main clients and who can hold the government to account for the way it takes sustainable development into account in its decision making.
Our staff, on whom the implementation of this strategy depends. They must be comfortable with the strategy and be able to relate to it.
Federal government employees and managers, with whom the Office maintains very close contact and who are responsible for integrating sustainable development issues into the policies, programs and operations of federal organizations.
Canadians, whom the members of Parliament represent and for whom all this Office's staff and government employees work.

What will you find in this document?

37.18 If you have time to read only one page of this document, Exhibit 37.1 will provide you with the essence of the strategy. It sets out our sustainable development goals and objectives and the key performance indicators. If you have a little more time, Appendix C will provide you with an overview of the action plan and the performance indicators that were developed for the Office.

37.19 If you read more of the document, you will learn about the Office's profile (below), the sustainable development issues associated with our activities and how we developed our goals, objectives and action plan .

What Are the Office's Mission and Activities?

Our Mandate

Enabling legislation

37.20 The Auditor General Act, the Financial Administration Act and a variety of other acts and orders-in-council set out the duties of the Auditor General and the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development as they relate to legislative auditing and monitoring of federal departments and agencies, Crown corporations and other national and international organizations.

Independence from government

37.21 We are different from departments and agencies by virtue of our independence from the government of the day and our reporting relationship to Parliament. Our independence is assured by a broad legislative mandate, freedom from certain controls over our budget and staff, and a 10-year term for the Auditor General. The first independent Auditor General was appointed in 1878.

The Office's Vision, Mission and Priorities

Strategic framework

37.22 The Office's Strategic Framework reflects a number of areas where we intend to focus our efforts to meet new and greater challenges and to make our Office an even better and more satisfying place to work. The strategic framework is currently being reviewed to incorporate, among other things, the elements of environment and sustainable development. Our Vision and Mission Statement guide our work:

Vision: We are committed to making a difference for the Canadian people by promoting, in all our work for Parliament, answerable, honest and productive government that reflects a commitment to sustainable development .

Mission: The Office of the Auditor General of Canada conducts independent audits and examinations that provide objective information, advice and assurance to Parliament. We promote accountability and best practices in government operations.

Office priorities

37.23 Many parties inside and outside government share a commitment to good government, and it is often through their co-operation and participation that we effect change. We assess our own effectiveness in terms of our ability to conduct high-quality audits that address significant topics and contribute to making a difference . Our five priorities for 1996-2001 are:

To help improve the government's financial condition.
To stimulate real advances in accountability concepts.
To influence the quality of financial management.
To contribute to necessary changes in the public service.
To implement fully the role of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development.

Our Activities

Legislative auditing

37.24 The principal activity of the Office is legislative auditing. Put simply, the Auditor General provides his professional opinion on the following questions:

The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

37.25 The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development has been a major new responsibility within the Office since 1996. The amendments to the Auditor General Act require departments to prepare sustainable development strategies and action plans for tabling in Parliament by the responsible minister. Ministers are also required to respond within 120 days to petitions from the public related to sustainable development issues.

37.26 Four objectives will guide the work of the Commissioner over the next two years:

To provide objective, independent analysis and recommendations to members of Parliament to help them examine the government's environmental and sustainable development activities and hold the government to account.
To work with federal departments and agencies to help strengthen their capacity to manage environmental and sustainable development issues.
To address both environmental protection and sustainable development, by emphasizing better decision making within the federal government.
To continue to focus on key weaknesses in the federal government's management of sustainable development issues identified in previous work by the Office of the Auditor General, and on the success and failure of departments to deal with them.

Reporting to Parliament

37.27 The Auditor General tables his annual report and two periodic reports each year in the House of Commons. The Commissioner, on behalf of the Auditor General, is to report annually to the House on the extent to which departments have met the objectives and implemented the plans set out in their sustainable development strategies. Our work is also reported in other places and forms, according to enabling legislation. Our reports, as well as other information concerning the Office, are accessible on our Internet site at http:/www.oag-bvg.gc.ca.

International activities

37.28 We contribute to the development and dissemination worldwide of international standards, best practices and training programs in various areas of accounting, auditing and reporting through our involvement in the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), in the Panel of External Auditors of the United Nations, and in the audit of UN organizations. We also manage a fellowship program for senior auditors from national audit offices of developing nations. Finally, we audit the international activities of Canadian federal departments and agencies.

Our Resources

Organization of the Office

37.29 The Office is organized into three branches: Executive, Corporate Services and Audit Operations, which includes the team of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. Most of the audit staff work out of the head office in Ottawa. Regional offices are located in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal and Halifax.

Resources

37.30 The Office staff is multi-disciplinary: 50 percent are qualified accountants and another 10 percent have postgraduate degrees in other disciplines, including engineering, law, statistics, sociology, history, the environment and economics. For 1996-1997, the Office's financial resources are $50.1 million and the human resources are 520 employees.

How Can This Office Affect Sustainable Development?

Issues Associated with Our Audit Work

Where can we have an influence on sustainable development?

37.31 The Office has a special status within the government. Unlike departments, it does not develop policies and does not manage programs. Instead, its role is to determine whether the government's programs and policies are administered in a responsible, honest and productive manner. The environmental and sustainable development issues to which we can draw attention, therefore, are the issues faced by the government departments and organizations we audit (see Exhibit 37.2 ).

37.32 There are various facets to our audit work (for more details on our activities ). The extent to which the Office can influence parliamentarians and federal departments and organizations in matters of the environment and sustainable development depends on the nature of our various audit products.

During value-for-money (VFM) audits , we examine whether the departments and territorial governments took into account the effects of their policies, programs and operations on the environment and sustainable development. In the audits that begin after the tabling of the sustainable development strategies, we will ensure that when we examine significant matters, we consider the issues identified by the departments in their strategies.
Although it is not explicitly required by the Financial Administration Act , during special examinations of Crown corporations we determine whether the systems and practices in place are appropriate for sound management of the corporation's environmental activities. This determination depends on the types of activities the corporation is involved in and their potential impact on the environment.
During financial audits , we determine whether environmental costs and liabilities were taken into account when preparing the financial information provided by the Government of Canada, the territorial governments, Crown corporations and certain entities, in accordance with the applicable accounting standards.
Reviews of departmental sustainable development strategies will provide us with the opportunity to understand the environmental and sustainable development issues associated with each department's activities. As mentioned earlier, we will take these issues into account during our future value-for-money audits.
The petitions submitted by Canadians will be another source of information to enable us to identify environmental and sustainable development issues that Canadians are concerned about.
Finally, our international activities will help us raise awareness of environmental and sustainable development issues in the national audit offices of developing nations and in various international organizations.

Issues identified in our first Green Report

37.33 In the past decade, the Office has become increasingly active in the environmental arena and has been a pioneer in applying audit principles to the environment. The Office has conducted some 42 audits of matters that involved a key component related to the environment or sustainable development. A list of these audits is in Appendix D .

37.34 In his first report (March 1997), the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development identified three key themes stemming from the review of the federal government's performance in the management of environmental and sustainable development issues:

the implementation gap between objectives and actions;
a lack of co-ordination and integration; and
inadequate review of performance and provision of information to Parliament.

We will continue to draw attention to these key weaknesses and to monitor departments' success in improving their practices.

Horizontal and cross-jurisdictional issues: the need for a global picture

37.35 Many of the most pressing environmental and sustainable development issues come under the jurisdiction of several departments and/or several levels of government. Because there is often a lack of co-ordination or integration among organizations, reviewing these horizontal issues poses a special challenge for governments.

37.36 For the Office of the Auditor General, identifying and examining these horizontal issues also represents a challenge in co-ordinating and integrating the work of various audit teams with that of the staff of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. Reviewing departmental sustainable development strategies will provide an opportunity to focus on identifying and analyzing issues and problems common to various departments and agencies.

Adapting to change

37.37 Environmental and sustainable development issues evolve at the same pace as the societies that define them. It is essential for the Office to have the flexibility and vision needed to adapt quickly to these changes, or even to anticipate them. To do this, the Office has a range of tools and practices:

information gathered from all our audits and from reviewing the departmental sustainable development strategies;
a series of regional offices across Canada that act as the ``eyes and ears" of the Auditor General in the field to identify issues in the provinces and territories;
petitions from Canadians;
comments from our staff during consultations on the development and implementation of our sustainable development strategy;
advice provided by the advisers to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, the members of the Auditor General's Panel of Senior Advisors and the members of our various advisory committees;
regular meetings and consultations with our various clients and partners;
seminars and work sessions with our provincial colleagues and colleagues from other national audit offices;
new concepts and standards developed by various professional associations (for example, the standards for accounting for environmental costs and liabilities, developed by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants).

Issues Associated with Our Day-to-Day Operations

The negative environmental impacts of our day-to-day operations are limited

37.38 The environmental impacts associated with the day-to-day operations of the Office are relatively limited. The Office has no laboratories, nor does it manage Crown land; it generates a very modest amount of purchases and has a one-car "fleet".

37.39 The issues associated with our day-to-day operations are therefore limited mainly to the following: changing our work and audit habits to help reduce our paper consumption; purchasing environmentally responsible products for our furniture and office supplies; recycling secondary materials; and optimizing travel for our audits. The Office is not the manager of the buildings it occupies, and does not have direct control over energy, water and waste management. We must therefore influence the managers of the buildings we occupy to improve their environmental management.

37.40 With respect to the Office's human resources, the challenge is to continue to inform and train staff and management in the area of the environment and sustainable development. We must also look at the extent to which innovative work arrangements can reduce the energy costs associated with transportation and contribute to the well-being of employees. Finally, we must ensure that our internal policies are in keeping with our sustainable development objectives. The current parking subsidy, in particular, is not in keeping with these objectives.

How are we currently dealing with these issues?

37.41 The Office played a very active role in introducing electronic work tools: datebooks and mail, the Comprehensive Auditing Manual, methodological guides and reports, databases, timesheets, expense accounts, etc., all of which are available in electronic format. A pilot project currently under way is looking at possibilities for reducing the amount of paper required to document each financial audit. Most staff are in the habit of recycling materials, as indicated in an envirosurvey conducted internally in 1997. Similarly, purchasing policies take environmental considerations into account. However, these measures have not yet been systematically documented. Our environmental management system should be completed by the spring of 1998. (see photograph)

Our Sustainable Development Goals and Objectives

Promoting sustainable development inside and outside this Office

37.42 Exhibit 37.1 shows the sustainable development goals and objectives of the Office as developed in consultation with our staff, clients and partners. These goals and objectives are related to:

our auditing activities, where we aim to promote sustainable development with our clients and partners;
our day-to-day operations, where our aim is to promote sustainable development within our own organization;
the management of our human resources, where we aim to encourage our staff to behave in such as way as to contribute to achieving all of our sustainable goals and objectives.

A long-term perspective

37.43 Generally speaking, the sustainable development goals that we have set for ourselves are in keeping with the results we would like to achieve in the medium or long term. The Office does not have control over these results (outcomes), but its activities may nevertheless have an impact on them and may contribute to their achievement. Measuring long-term outcomes is often difficult, and evaluating the contribution of each stakeholder is always a sensitive matter. Despite these limitations, the examination of our performance in this regard should be a profitable learning exercise.

37.44 Sustainable development objectives generally correspond to short- or medium-term outputs that the Office controls directly through its various activities. These objectives must be measurable and closely related to the long-term goals to which they contribute.

Shared by all our staff

37.45 For an organization to achieve its objectives, two conditions must exist. First, senior management must have made a real commitment. Second, staff must "adopt" the proposed objectives and identify with the activities suggested for achieving them.

37.46 Throughout the development of the Office's sustainable development strategy, constant attention was paid to these aspects. For example:

the Auditor General showed his commitment to and interest in the issue of the environment and sustainable development;
one of the two Deputy Auditors General actively directed the development of the strategy and chaired the Strategy Steering Committee;
the Steering Committee, comprising senior managers representing the various activities of the Office, contributed directly to developing sustainable development goals and objectives and the major thrusts of the strategy;
a working group comprising managers and professionals directly involved in audit work, in the Office's day-to-day operations and in human resources management developed the action plan and the performance indicators for the strategy;
through the many consultation activities, all staff were able to provide their input and were informed regularly of progress made on the strategy.

Our Sustainable Development Action Plan

Linking the Goals and Objectives to Activities and Performance Indicators

37.47 Appendices C.1, C.2 and C.3 summarize the Office's sustainable development action plan. These three tables were designed to highlight the links between our sustainable development goals and objectives (the results sought), the activities needed for achieving these objectives, and the results expected, illustrated with the help of performance indicators. The key indicators that will be used in our annual performance reports are presented in Exhibit 37.1 .

Selecting the right mix of objectives/activities/indicators

37.48 The choice of sustainable development objectives and, subsequently, activities and performance indicators must reflect the priorities of an organization, the impact of its activities on sustainable development and the balance sought among the various functions/activities.

37.49 For this Office, the importance of audit activities is reflected in our objectives and action plan. The potential impact of our work on sustainable development is primarily a function of the influence we have on parliamentarians and federal organizations through our audit activities. Although the negative effects of our day-to-day operations on the environment are smaller than those of other departments, mitigating them is an important part of an overall strategy. Finally, our objectives and our action plan have to highlight how the success of our strategy is directly related to the ability and commitment of our staff to carry it out.

Implementing Our Action Plan

37.50 As demonstrated by the high rate of attendance at discussion groups and response to the Envirosurvey, and by the comments gathered, most of our staff show a real interest in environmental and sustainable development issues. Further, the vast majority feel that the Office can influence the practices of Parliament and federal organizations in the area of sustainable development (70 percent said we can influence to a certain extent; 19 percent said we can influence significantly).

37.51 Some of the necessary conditions for integrating environmental and sustainable development issues into our audit operations were discussed during the consultation activities:

fully integrate the new team of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development into the Office, and clearly define its role and its links with the audit teams;
define the process that will help us address horizontal issues;
facilitate the "lending" of environmental and sustainable development resources from one team to another;
find the right balance between environmental and sustainable development issues and other potential lines of inquiry;
provide the resources needed by audit teams in the medium term to examine environmental issues and review departmental sustainable development strategies;
place as much importance on implementing the Office's strategy as on developing it, and allocate the necessary resources.

Integrating our sustainable development strategy into the Office's operational processes

37.52 To have a real chance of being implemented, our sustainable development strategy will have to be integrated quickly into each of the Office's operating processes: strategic planning, development of methodology, budgeting and production of performance reports. The strategy will also be directly linked to our environmental management system.

Implementing our strategy fully in each regional office

37.53 The Office of the Auditor General has five regional offices. In addition to departmental and Crown corporation auditing, some of these offices conduct financial audits and value-for-money audits for territorial governments. The governments of the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories are audited by our Western Canada offices, and the new Nunavut Territory, to be established in 1999, will be audited by our Montreal office. As a result of the important environmental and sustainable development issues associated with the development of these territories and with the departments audited by our regional offices, they will be fully involved in developing and implementing our strategy.

Working with our partners

37.54 Whether in Ottawa or in the regions, the Office is neither the manager nor the sole tenant of the building in which it is accommodated. It therefore has limited control over numerous aspects of its day-to-day operations. In Ottawa, the energy, water and waste in the C.D. Howe Building are managed by Public Works and Government Services Canada. We will therefore work with that Department and the other tenants of the building to achieve some of the objectives of our strategy.

Completing and implementing our environmental management system (EMS)

37.55 We should be able to finalize our environmental management system in the spring of 1998. Many measures were already in place by summer 1997, but the documentation system has not yet been completed.

What our sustainable development action plan will mean for our employees

37.56 The sustainable development action plan has implications for all our staff, particularly for training. Generally, all employees will have the opportunity to improve their knowledge of the environmental and sustainable development aspects associated directly with their work. Auditors will be better able to identify environmental and sustainable development issues that constitute significant matters to be audited (see Exhibit 37.3 ). The staff of the Corporate Services Branch will be better able to understand the environmental issues associated with the day-to-day operations they manage.

37.57 With respect to day-to-day operations, management would also like all employees to contribute to the objectives of the Office by reducing paper consumption, recycling secondary materials and optimizing the use of public transportation and opportunities for making conference calls.

37.58 The Office encourages its 520 employees to set an example through their behaviour in their auditing of departments and Crown corporations, and in their day-to-day activities at work or at home.

Responding to a Challenge: Performance Measurement and Reporting

The question of attribution

37.59 We want to promote sustainable development among parliamentarians, federal organizations and Canadians in general. This is an ambitious goal that we share with a number of other stakeholders, making it difficult to evaluate the extent to which we will have contributed to achieving the desired result.

37.60 Nonetheless, while we cannot accurately specify our contribution to achieving these long-term goals, we can show a logical link between our activities and the results observed. This will be based on a series of indicators involving results associated with short- and medium-term objectives (outputs) and the changes observed in the longer term (outcomes), including changes in behaviour. Taken separately, none of these indicators is perfect. However, used judiciously, together they will enable us to evaluate our influence and our progress toward sustainable development.

Reporting on results: a process of continuous learning and improvement

37.61 Measuring performance is a process of ongoing improvement. In this first sustainable development strategy, we were able to identify performance indicators for each of our objectives. In our next progress reports (1998 and 1999) we will re-evaluate the relevance of each indicator, based on the quality and significance of the information gathered.

37.62 We were able to present reference data (at 1 April 1997 or summer 1997) for only some of the indicators. In several cases, the activity that we want to measure is a new one in the Office, as will be the case with the review of departmental sustainable development strategies starting in the winter of 1998. In the absence of reference data, we did not identify a specific target. In the 1998 progress report, we plan to propose targets for most of the objectives.

What will we do with our performance measures?

37.63 As noted in paragraph 37.52, our sustainable development strategy will be integrated into the Office's management process and into our environmental management system. The follow-up to the strategy will therefore be part of the Office's continuous improvement process. A report will be made to the Executive Committee twice a year. The Strategy Steering Committee, created while the strategy was being developed, will continue its activities to ensure that the Office's activities are adjusted on the basis of the performance achieved.

Looking Forward: Integrating Sustainable Development

Who will review our strategy?

37.64 As with other departments and agencies, the Office's sustainable development strategy will be reviewed by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. The Commissioner's Panel of Environmental Advisors will also be asked to review the strategy.

Updating our strategy and performance indicators

37.65 We plan to follow the same process as other departments. Thus, within three years of first tabling our strategy we will update it. Similarly, we will prepare an annual progress report showing how we have improved our performance in issues of the environment and sustainable development, and whether we have achieved our targets.

37.66 We will integrate this information into the Office's Performance Report submitted annually to the Treasury Board. The key indicators identified in Exhibit 37.1 will be used for this purpose.

What are the aspects we will need to improve in our strategy?

37.67 At the end of a process such as the development of this strategy, it is often difficult to step back far enough to evaluate weaknesses. However, we already know that at least three aspects will need to be improved when our strategy is updated. First, we will begin the consultation process with our clients and partners earlier so that they can more fully influence the development of our strategy rather than react to our proposals. Second, the broader availability of reference data will allow us to identify specific targets for our objectives. And third, we will need to pay more attention to the social dimension of sustainable development.

How is our strategy going to influence our work in the years to come?

37.68 The main influence that our sustainable development strategy will have on the Office will be that we will approach our audit operations in a more integrated and comprehensive manner. Greater attention will also be paid to the horizontal issues that cut across departmental mandates, cross political jurisdictions and even go beyond our national borders.

How will our strategy influence our relationship with Parliament, federal organizations and Canadians?

37.69 The Office's role in the sustainable development strategy process is proactive, not reactive. This means helping parliamentarians and members of territorial legislative assemblies consider the environmental and sustainable development consequences of their legislative and oversight work. It means supporting federal and territorial organizations in their efforts to integrate environmental and sustainable development considerations into their decision making for policies, programs and operations. And it means providing a mechanism for Canadians to draw environmental and sustainable development concerns to the attention of the Government of Canada.

1997 December Report of the Auditor General of Canada

Chapter 37—Sustainable Development Strategy for the Office of the Auditor General—December 1997

Main Points