Government Operations committee  It is a very valid question. Are both programs funded by the same vote? The government does not have the right to take moneys from one vote and use them in another. However, it may realign amounts within a vote. You wanted to know also when you would receive the detailed information from the Estimates.

Government Operations committee  Generally speaking, the executive process that we were describing here was to give members an understanding of the process that the government uses to develop the main estimates, which then go in front of Parliament for spending approval. The government has no legal authority to spend without it having been provided for in a vote, so we do have the government contingencies vote, for example.

Government Operations committee  The spending authority that's proposed to Parliament through main estimates is based on the decisions that a Treasury Board has taken. The government that is in power at the time that appropriations are sought must take a decision on the nature and substance of the estimates. It needs to balance its own plans against the need for spending authority to continue the core operations of the government.

Government Operations committee  All governments are accountable to Parliament for the specific appropriations they request.

Government Operations committee  In terms of the timelines, which we've discussed, main estimates must be tabled by March 1. The practice that has evolved in the Government of Canada--over a number of decades, really--is that typically a budget will be presented that provides a fiscal framework very shortly before that, typically in February.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much. My name is David Moloney. I am assistant secretary at the Treasury Board responsible for the expenditure management sector. This is a sector that was created about a year ago now, merging expenditure operations reporting and a budget office unit.

Government Operations committee  With members' indulgence, we have distributed a slide deck. I think it will take me a little longer than ten minutes to go through. We understood that the committee was interested in a fairly detailed run-through of what constitutes the main estimates and some of the details therein.