Modern comptrollership is the foundation of our new management model, a model that should integrate human and financial resources. I would like to address four issues that are being debated presently and that I am sure you will have talked about one way or another during this session and that your staff would have talked about at the Full-Time Financial Officers Conference a few weeks ago. The second issue is whether modern comptrollership does the job for us in its present form. The third is do we have a suitable policy framework to manage risk taking. The fourth is human resources and people issues.
Debate continues in society and in political circles concerning the level of government spending.
It is a legitimate debate. No matter what the established level of spending, financial administration has always been the subject of debate, but for some time now, levels and types of spending have provoked even more intense discussion. As senior officials in the public service, it is your responsibility to ensure that the funds made available to your departments are well managed and produce results. This work is essential to maintain public confidence in the government. When we look at government spending on programs and services we need to keep many things in mind.