HUMA Committee Report

On 19 January 2000, the Minister of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) released the report of an internal audit conducted during 1999. This audit uncovered significant administrative mismanagement in seven program-areas involving expenditures of more than one billion dollars in the fiscal year 1998-99. An examination of the administration of the grants and contributions programs included in this audit has been the focus of this Committee's work since Parliament resumed in February 2000.

Our study began when the Minister of Human Resources Development appeared before the Committee on 10 February 2000. One week later, the Committee adopted a motion to "study and report to the House no later than 1 June 2000 [on] grants and contributions by the Department of Human Resources Development, providing that an interim report be tabled by 15 April 2000." On 29 February 2000, the Committee accepted a framework for its study that included a number of initial meetings to obtain information on the programs audited and the audit results. From then until the preparation of this interim report, our hearings covered a range of topics with the ultimate end of assessing the nature of the issues and the steps that are being taken to correct the problems with the administration of grants and contributions.

The Committee has not completed its hearings. We would like to hear additional perspectives from other witnesses and the Committee has yet to obtain evidence of the effectiveness of HRDC's remedial measures to address its administrative problems. The Committee, therefore, has concluded that it is premature to make recommendations without completing more of its work. Instead, the members of the Committee have agreed to raise a number of questions based on the evidence received to date. The Committee will seek answers to these questions during the second half of its study and make recommendations in its final report, due to be tabled by the beginning of June 2000.