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ARCHIVED - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Supplementary Tables


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Response to Parliamentary Committees and External Audits


Response to Parliamentary Committees and External Audits
Response to Parliamentary Committees

Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food

Competitiveness of Canadian Agriculture
The report was adopted by the Committee and presented to the House of Commons on May 6, 2010. A Government Response was requested by the Committee and presented to the House of Commons on September 20, 2010. The response was in the spirit of the report and shared the Committee's commitment to addressing the needs of the agriculture and agri-food sector to improve competitiveness while protecting and enhancing returns to farmers.

The response is available on the Parliament of Canada's website.

Young Farmers: The Future of Farming
The report was adopted by the Committee on September 28, 2010 and presented to the House of Commons on November 19, 2010. Government response was requested by the Committee and presented to the House of Commons on March 21, 2011. The response was in the spirit of the report and shared the Committee's commitment to young and beginning farmers in the agricultural sector.

The response is available on the Parliament of Canada's website.

Response to the Auditor General (including to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)

Chapter 5 of the Auditor General's (AG) 2010 Spring Report pertained to an audit of Scientific Research at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Department had managed its research activities to achieve its strategic direction and priorities, including how it manages its research projects, human resources and capital assets.

The Department agreed with the six audit recommendations and prepared an action plan which is now being implemented to address all recommendations.

AAFC was also included in three chapters of the Auditor General's 2010 Fall Report. These chapters were government-wide audits: Chapter 1 - Canada's Economic Action Plan (EAP); Chapter 2 - Management and Control in Small Entities; and Chapter 4 - Managing Conflict of Interest.

The audit of Canada's EAP examined the design and delivery of EAP infrastructure programs including AAFC's Modernizing Federal Laboratories Initiative. There were no audit recommendations addressed to AAFC.

The objective of the Management and Control in Small Entities audit was to determine whether three small federal organizations had effective management control procedures in place for acquisition cards, contracting, executive travel, and hospitality and whether they had sound human resource management practices for selected areas of human resources. The Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency (CPMA) was one of the three entities assessed. The CPMA was included in one recommendation which concerned performance agreements and appraisal forms for Executives. The Department agreed with the recommendation and has acted on it.

The Managing Conflict of Interest (COI) audit examined COI policies, controls, mechanisms, and frameworks and how thoroughly the Treasury Board Secretariat and five departments, including AAFC, had assessed the effectiveness of their COI activities. The audit found that mechanisms to address COI were in place in the five audited departments, but that follow-up was needed to ensure COI declarations were dealt with in a timely manner. The audit also noted AAFC had taken steps to address issues of COI found in the 2007 audit of Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program.

AAFC is included in three of the five audit recommendations. AAFC agreed with the recommendations, prepared a detailed action plan and is acting upon it.

The AG reports with the recommendations and management responses included can be found on the Auditor General's website.

External Audits: (Note: These refer to other external audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages)
Not applicable.