Staff Directory

A Principal in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada from 2001 until his retirement in 2017, Mr. Affleck was responsible for 28 federal entities, two thematic portfolios (Oversight, and Science and Technology) and he was the Internal Specialist in the Office responsible for Internal Audit. Highlights while working as a Principal for the Office included leading performance audits on abandoned mines in the North, Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Canadian food recall process and the inspection of nuclear powerplants.

Prior to joining the Office in 1988, Mr. Affleck worked as an Exploration Geologist where he managed several diamond drill exploration camps in Northern British Columbia, Northern Ontario and Northern Quebec, exploring for potential deposits of massive sulphides and precious metals.

Mr. Affleck received Master of Arts (Public Administration) and Bachelor of Science (Honours, Geology) degrees from Carleton University. He also holds a Diploma in Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University and is a graduate of Canada’s Advanced Leadership Program, Canada School of Public Service.

Christian Asselin has more than 35 years of varied experience in the field of internal, external and performance audit. He has extensive experience in risk management, internal controls, governance, program evaluation, and fraud prevention, detection and deterrence.

He worked for 16 years with the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Canada in Ottawa, where he held several positions including the role of Director, Forensic Accounting. He has participated in several projects in performance auditing, special examinations of federal Crown corporations and financial audits.

Thereafter, Christian served as director at Elections Canada and Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive at the Public Health Agency of Canada and Natural Resources Canada. He also worked in the Office of the Comptroller General of Canada in the section responsible for the implementation of the policy on internal audit. Before joining the public sector, he worked for two large audit firms.

Currently he practices public accountancy, works as consultant for government departments and contributes to the activities of the Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation (CAAF). In this capacity he participated in the development of the practice audit guides on Auditing Mining Revenues and Financial Assurances for Site Remediation and Auditing Oil and Gas Revenues and Financial Assurances for Site Remediation. He also participates in training activities as an instructor or collaborator.

Christian has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Ottawa. He holds a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation and is a Certified Fraud Examiner. He is a member of the Ontario and Quebec Association of CPAs.

Pauline Blais, Certified Professional Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Fraud Examiner. Ms. Blais has over 30 years of experience in management consulting and external and internal auditing. She has worked for the Office of the Auditor General of Canada on financial and performance audit engagements. She has extensive international experience assessing the risks of public financial systems in developing countries. During her career, Ms. Blais has trained internal auditors in Ottawa, Quebec City and Montreal for the Institute of Internal Auditors, Treasury Board and the School of Public Service. Ms. Blais has also designed and delivered specialized audit training for various federal organizations, including the Public Service Commission and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. She has designed and delivered training for development officers responsible for managing and overseeing large contribution programs for Global Affairs Canada. Her expertise also includes the design of monitoring systems for financial internal controls, asset management, procurement and contracting, values and ethics. Pauline also inspects internal audit functions and provides quality assurance services to federal government organizations. Pauline has the advantage of having conducted several performance audits and provided coaching sessions to several junior auditors. She will therefore be able to add real-life experiences and fun facts to this educational training.

Dianne joined the Office of the Auditor General of Nova Scotia in 1987 as a student auditor, obtaining her accounting designation (CGA, now CPA-CGA) in 1990. During her 30 years with the Nova Scotia office, she carried out numerous financial and performance audits. During the last 15 years, Dianne’s work focused mainly on performance audit, covering many programs across most government departments and agencies.

Dianne assisted in delivering audit courses for both provincial and national legislative audit offices (Newfoundland and Labrador, St. Lucia) as well as presented at the annual Performance Audit Symposium. Dianne was also an active member of several study groups and committees within the legislative audit community, focusing on education, communication, governance and organizing the annual symposium. Dianne retired from the Nova Scotia office as Acting Executive Director of Performance Audit in June 2018.

Jean Cinq-Mars was appointed Québec’s Sustainable Development Commissioner, a position in the Auditor General’s office, from in 2009 to 2016. As Commissioner, he conducted numerous audits on a wide variety of issues and programs ranging from Climate Change, Green Fund, Mining, Shale Gas, Biodiversity, Pesticides, Sustainable Development Objectives, National Parks, etc.

Prior to this position he was the president of ERSD Consulting, an environment, natural resources and sustainable development consulting firm. He is the past chair of Canada’s National Forest Strategy Coalition (2004-2006). Mr. Cinq-Mars has also occupied the positions of President of Wildlife Habitat Canada, Head of Division for Pollution Prevention and Control in the OECD in Paris, as well as various management positions in Environment Canada. While at the OECD, he participated in the environment performance reviews of France, Luxemburg and Denmark.

Mr. Cinq-Mars is a director of the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE), a member of the advisory panel for Canada’s federal Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development, and Co-chair of the recently established Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Collaborative, which aims to review current environment programs and develop an innovative 21st century strategy to efficiently address complex problems.

Yves Denis has been Auditor General of the City of Lévis, Québec since April 2015. Yves spent 16 years at the Office of the Auditor General of Quebec, first in the field of information technology management for eight years, then as a professional in value-for-money auditing. Yves’ audits covered topics such as the governance of information technologies in the health sector, the management of information technologies at the Ministry of Transport, and the development of information systems for the Ministry of Revenue. Yves also was responsible for the revision of the methodological framework for performance audits at the Auditor General of Quebec, and for practice reviews of performance audit files in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. For several years, Yves has contributed to various CAAF projects including training courses and a practical guide on auditing efficiency. He received his Chartered Accountant designation in 1996. Yves strongly believes that performance audits are powerful levers for improving and empowering public organizations.

In his role as an Audit Principal with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) from 2008 until he retired in 2018, Mr. Domingue led performance audits on the Department of Finance Canada in areas such as debt management, tax policy, pension plans and fiscal sustainability. His portfolio also comprised other audit areas including transport, infrastructure, gender as well as expenditure management.

Before joining the OAG in 1999, Mr. Domingue worked at the Parliamentary Research Branch for 11 years. As an Analyst on Parliament Hill, he provided expert advice on economic policies to Members of the House of Commons and Senators, as well as parliamentary committees.

Mr. Domingue holds a B.Sc. in Economics and M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Montréal as well as a Master in Public Administration (MPA) from Queen’s University in Kingston.

Linda Klassen is results-orientated leader with over 25 years of experience in internal audit, enterprise risk management, governance and finance. She has experienced many successes throughout her career that have led to her current role leading legislative audits as Principal at the Provincial Audit office in Saskatchewan. Prior to joining Provincial Audit in 2012, Linda worked in the crown sectors in customer service, finance and internal audit. She has developed high performing teams, managed boards, developed processes and risk based audit plans and led enterprise risk management initiatives. She has also lead governance and board initiatives.

Linda is passionate about people and education; she is an instructor for several organizations and contributes to many educational events including local, national and international. She holds CPA, CMA, CIA (Certified Internal Auditor), CRMA (Certification in Risk Management Assurance) designations and is working on her coaching designation.

Linda is actively involved in audit professional organizations. She has served in the roles of President of the Saskatchewan Chapter of the IIA, Governance Chair and Vice-Chair of Professional Development on the IIA Canada Board and is active on committees in the CCOLA community. She has Co-Chaired several conferences both National and International along with the CCOLA Performance Audit Symposium.

Sarah MacFadyen is a dynamic, creative and versatile writer, journalist, media consultant and instructor with strong ties to—and understanding of—the media industry. For 17 years, Sarah was one of the principal decision makers and visionaries behind CBC Radio programs in Ottawa such as All in a Day and Ottawa Morning. Her years as a reporter and producer with CBC informs Sarah’s sense for what matters, what people care about and what journalists want to read in a press release and hear in a story pitch.

For almost a decade, Sarah has also shared her knowledge and experience as an instructor and media trainer. While at CBC, she began teaching Radio Skills, a one-week radio course for CBC Radio employees across the country. In 2009, she started as a sessional lecturer at Carleton University’s School of Journalism, teaching writing, editing and radio production. Since leaving CBC to pursue a career as a communications consultant, Sarah has also developed and lead media training courses for various organizations including, Centre 507, Farm Radio International, Ottawa Centre Ecodistrict, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation.

Sarah’s knack for finding what is unique and compelling about a story, situation, product or service is the hallmark of her style – and it also informs her approach as a media trainer and instructor.

An Assistant Auditor General from 2007 until his retirement in 2015, Mr. Maxwell was the Product Leader for Office of the Auditor General of Canada’s Performance Audit Practice, providing leadership and oversight of the Office’s performance audits. The practice he led conducted audits of all federal departments (including the work of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development) and the three territorial governments, at an annual expenditure exceeding $40 million. While serving as Product Leader, he was also appointed as Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development on an interim basis, from April 2013 until March 2014.

Mr. Maxwell joined the Office in 1982 and became a Principal in 1996. From 1993 until 1995, Mr. Maxwell worked on Executive Interchange at Citizenship and Immigration Canada as the Director of Business Immigration Compliance and the Entrepreneur Program.

Prior to joining the Office, he established and co-managed an international software development and consulting firm.

Mr. Maxwell received Master of Public Administration and Bachelor of Arts (Honours, Geography) degrees from Queen’s University.

Michael McLaughlin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science, with Honours in Mathematics (1971), from Carleton University in Ottawa. He also graduated from the Certified Management Accountant Program (CMA) in 1989 and from the Advanced Management Program (CCMD) in 1992.

Mr. McLaughlin began his career in 1971 working as a Management Analyst for Veterans Affairs. In 1973, he joined Canada Post where he advanced to the position of Manager of Corporate Planning. From 1979 to 2002, Mr. McLaughlin worked in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada in progressively senior roles. As an Audit Principal, Mr. McLaughlin was responsible for audits of External Affairs, CIDA and IDRC. He later became an Assistant Auditor General with responsibility for the Montreal Regional Office including audits of VIA Rail, the Business Development Bank of Canada and the International Civil Aviation Organization. He held the position of Deputy Auditor General of Canada from 1997 to 2002, where he was responsible for the overall management of the Office including Audit Operations, and was the Senior Financial Officer.

During 2002-2003, Mr. McLaughlin held the position of President/Executive Director at CCAF-FCVI (now the Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation).

Michael McLaughlin joined CATSA (Canadian Air Transport Security Authority) on April 1, 2003 as Vice-President and CFO. He retired from CATSA on December 31, 2006 and is now an independent consultant and volunteer.

Shawn Murphy has a BBA (73) and LLB from the University of New Brunswick. From 1977- 2000, he was an associate and then partner with Stewart McKelvey, a large Atlantic Canadian law firm. In 2000, he was elected the MP for the federal riding of Charlottetown. He was re-elected in 2004, 2006, and in 2008. He retired from federal politics in May 2011.

During his political career, Shawn served on the Public Accounts Committee (10 years), Finance Committee, and Fisheries and Oceans Committee. From 2003 – 2006, he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans; from 2006 – 2010, he chaired the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts; and from 2010 – 2011, he chaired the House of Commons Standing Committee on Ethics, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy.

He has served as a sessional lecturer at the University of Prince Edward Island, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the University of Prince Edward Island. He serves on the panel of senior advisors with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. He has also completed the Directors Education Program offered by the University of Toronto and the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Shawn’s area of expertise is governance, government oversight and the effective operation of a public accounts committee. He has given presentations to the Public Accounts Committees in the countries of Ghana and Kenya and in the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

Shawn lives in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, with his wife Yvette. They have three adult sons.

Guy Perron is an experienced practitioner who has worked over 32 years at the Auditor General of Québec. His expertise lies primarily in value-for-money audit. As project manager he has carried out audit missions in various areas and entities. From 2006 to 2012, he worked in the Advisory services department. Among the addressed issues, note the audit methodology update, the review of audit objectives and evaluation criteria’s, the development of a framework for designing audit projects, the establishment of a recommendations follow up system and training of new employees. Since 2012, he continues to practice his discipline in the municipal area and supports the Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation in the development of Audit News, a new tool for practitioners to share their knowledge. He is a member of the Ordre des Comptables agréés du Québec (now the Ordre des CPA) since 1980.

Bill Rafuse has 35 years of experience in internal and external audit, human resources, and strategic planning. For many years he worked at the Ottawa headquarters of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Canada where he held a number of senior positions, including Principal, Strategic Planning, and Principal, Human Resources.

While at the OAG, Bill was responsible for various audit portfolios, including Health Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Veterans Affairs Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He had previously worked for the Treasury Board of Canada and Veterans Affairs Canada, as well as the private financial sector.

Most recently, Bill was responsible for the OAG’s regional operations in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which included financial and performance audits of federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations headquartered in the Atlantic Provinces.

A business graduate of Acadia University, Bill also holds a Master of Arts degree in public administration from Carleton University.  He is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP).

In recent years, Bill has been a consultant to various organizations including the Canada Revenue Agency, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Correctional Service Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Nova Scotia, Veterans Affairs Canada, and the Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation (formerly the Canadian Comprehensive Audit Foundation). He has also worked extensively in the Caribbean Region for the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank.

His audit consulting activities include: strategic and human resources planning; capacity and risk assessment; design, development, and delivery of training courses; quality assurance; and expert advice on internal, performance, and human resources audits.

John Reed served as the President and CEO of the CAAF from 2016 to 2020 and is now a CAAF associate. Mr. Reed worked closely with the Foundation’s community between 2012 and 2020, starting as its Vice-President responsible for performance audit and oversight in 2012. During this time, he led the development of new innovative products, including practice guides, discussion papers and other methodology tools and led the resurgence of CAAF performance audit and oversight training. He worked extensively to support international programming and to secure the new International Governance, Accountability and Performance program with the Government of Canada.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Mr. Reed was a Principal at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG Canada). He joined the OAG Canada in 1996, where he acquired extensive experience in leading performance audits in a number of federal departments and agencies including National Defence, Global Affairs Canada, Environment Canada, and Health Canada. Mr. Reed spent many years leading audits of environmental programs and sustainable development strategies for the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. Mr. Reed also led the OAG’s international environmental auditing-related work, including heading the Secretariat of the Working Group on Environmental Auditing of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.

Prior to joining the OAG, Mr. Reed spent more than a decade in environmental positions in the petroleum industry, with wide ranging responsibilities related to regulatory and public policy development, strategic environmental planning, risk communication, issues management, and environmental auditing. He was a co-founder of the Canadian Environmental Auditing Association and served as its President and Past-President. Mr. Reed also spent three years with Environment Canada as the lead staff negotiator for the United Nations’ Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances.

A dynamic and engaging bilingual facilitator, trainer, and coach, Laurie is passionate about helping people to be fully engaged in their personal and professional lives. She has spent the last eighteen years offering training and consulting services to the public, private, and non-profit sectors in Canada and internationally.

For over ten years Laurie worked at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada where she managed the Communications and Human Resources Management training programs and served as the Organizational Development Specialist. While at the OAG, Laurie worked closely with subject matter experts to design training that followed adult learning principles, ensuring that participants were fully engaged and maximizing their learning. She also led storyboarding sessions with audit teams as they were in the reporting phase of their audits and worked with audit teams, designing interventions and helping members to become high performing teams with a solid understanding of human dynamics. Her training deliveries have included work with teams, change management, strategic planning, leadership development and executive coaching.

Laurie’s education includes a Master’s degree in Human Systems Intervention (organizational development) from Concordia University and a Certificate in Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University. Laurie is certified to use several psychometric tools including, amongst others, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, the EQ in Action profile, and Leadership Behaviour DNA.

Laurie’s second love, after training is executive coaching. She is a certified coach through the Personal and Professional Coach Certification program at Concordia and the Institute for Social and Emotional Intelligence.

A well-respected coach, Laurie is known for her laser-like ability to pinpoint critical issues and challenge clients by asking the tough questions. She has coached individuals at all levels on a wide range of personal and professional development issues including career transition, leadership development, and interpersonal relationships.

In addition to training and facilitation, Laurie also has significant consulting experience in the area of change management. She was the Manager, Transformational Change at National Defence and has been the change management lead on several large projects: departmental transition to a government-wide directive on performance management, a divisional re-alignment to a matrix and process-oriented organization, the re-organization of a 600 person department, and a departmental transition to international accounting and auditing standards, amongst others.

Raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Martin spent the first part of his career in Winnipeg but then worked in Ottawa for 30 years before working with the Cayman Islands Government for 8 years. He has a background in financial and performance audit, public sector management governance frameworks including Enterprise Risk Management, business analysis, performance measurement and reporting and internal control. Martin is a CPA and was conferred the fellowship designation in 2013 for exemplary service to his profession.

While Martin spent most of his career employed as a senior audit manager in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada and in the Cayman Islands, he also spent considerable time innovating in management frameworks and building capacity in organizations and government sector. This included, for example, carrying out business process reviews in the areas of financial, operational and IT systems. His work led to significant improvements and streamlining of business processes in a wide range of public sector entities. In his role as Director of Performance Audit in the Cayman Islands, Mr. Ruben led efforts by the Office of the Auditor General to deliver professional development opportunities for the public sector through an annual development workshop and ongoing informal consultation with management and boards. The annual workshop formed the basis for the development of an international finance conference.

Don Smith has over 40 years of experience conducting internal audits, performance audits, human resource management audits and Special Examinations of Crown Corporations. He has spent his career training and mentoring auditors in Canada and abroad, including numerous CAAF Fellows. Since 2005 he has run his own consulting firm focusing primarily on internal audits, mentoring and training.

Mr. Smith was a Director of Human Resources Management Audit in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada from 1983 until his retirement in 2005. He conducted HRM audits in such areas as recruitment, workforce adjustment, performance management and classification. He directed performance audits and special examinations for a wide variety of organizations, including National Defence, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Canadian International Development Agency. He conducted Special Examinations in numerous crown corporations, including VIA Rail and the National Museums, and also of the House of Commons and Senate. He then spent a year as Director General, Audit Operations Branch, with the Public Service Commission during the building and transition phase of the Branch.

Prior to joining the Office of the Auditor General, Mr. Smith spent a decade with the Public Service Commission where he was a trainer, course designer, management consultant and Director of Training Technology and Certification. He developed and taught training courses in such areas as systems approach to training (training analysis, design, delivery, evaluation and validation); project management; organizational analysis and design; labour relations; and performance management.

Mr. Smith received a Master of Arts and Honours Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. He was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal and the Auditor General Award for Innovation.

Elizabeth Weir served as a Canadian parliamentarian for 14 years, winning four elections. She gained national recognition for her work as a parliamentarian. As a legislator, she successfully secured government support for several Private Member’s Bills – more than any other Canadian legislator during her terms as a parliamentarian.

Ms. Weir also has extensive experience in both budgetary and legislative oversight through her work as a parliamentary committee member, having served successive terms as a Public Accounts Committee member.

In 2005, Ms. Weir left federal politics and was appointed as a Deputy Minister to establish the New Brunswick’s first energy efficiency and conservation agency. Under her stewardship, Efficiency NB became a national leader in energy efficiency programs, winning an international award for its industrial energy efficiency program.

Ms. Weir is accredited as a “Parliamentary Advisor” with U.N.D.P.’s Democratic Governance Roster of Experts, as well as a consultant with the National Democratic Institute, the European Union, the O.S.C.E., and the World Bank Institute.

Working in some 25 countries, she has wide-ranging experience in capacity building and training in governance and oversight with parliamentarians and political party activists.

She has also served as a member of international election missions in Tunisia (2011 and 2014), Morocco (2011), and Georgia (2012). In 2013, she was a member of the Leadership Team for the National Democratic Institute’s observation mission in Jordan’s parliamentary elections.

A lawyer by training, Ms. Weir lives in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada and she and her husband, James Stanley, have one daughter, Sarah Stanley.