Government Operations committee  If I may, I'll elaborate, because it's very confusing. There are always different numbers being presented on advertising and picked up in the media from supplementary estimates and the annual report. Basically, as Mr. Matthews said, there are two fundamental ways to fund adverti

Government Operations committee  Yes, if I could. Our point here was that the recommendation was directed to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, and there is no date, so that can be dictated. What we would like to do, should there be that decision, is come and explain some of the implication

Government Operations committee  Yes. Probably it could not be done by next March 1, but we could build in a process thereafter.

Government Operations committee  Essentially, it's the same people in respective organizations. We're talking about the 135 CFOs and deputy chief financial officers in each appropriated department. They're responsible both for the departmental input to the main estimates and also largely for the development of t

Government Operations committee  That is it. It's so you can see the story and start to build it over a period of time rather than have only a one-off, that one-year appropriation without the broader context. Ultimately, of course, it would be more at the strategic outcome program activity level so that it can f

Government Operations committee  We will address that in our response on recommendation 2, which is due to you by the end of this fiscal year. We'll include the timeline for the other items.

Government Operations committee  To your earlier question first, and then back to where Bill left off, you asked what would be different in the new system. I will talk about what would be different for you. When we come forward with the estimates, instead of having it by portfolio of ministry with this amount

Government Operations committee  First, it will take some time. Right now the people who prepare the estimates are also the people who prepare the reports on plans and priorities. If the estimates are actually prepared at the strategic outcomes level, they are basically rolled up from the same material that is

Government Operations committee  To the extent there's consensus on specific recommendations, please put it forward. Something we are looking toward right now is alphabetical, largely because of concerns we've heard here and from Canadians. We're also looking at.... I wouldn't call it analysis, in that it's not

Government Operations committee  Just with regard to the change management—because we really are getting into some major changes and opportunities with open data, electronic things that are accessible, searchable, and where you can extract information—technology will not be the solution. First and foremost, pe

Government Operations committee  We'd very much appreciate hearing whether you think any of those would be useful. Some of these could be done as early as your next main estimates. We're set for our supply cycle for this year, but when it comes to connecting the dots, perhaps going alphabetically.... Actually, w

Government Operations committee  We hear a great deal from all 135 about things we could improve. Most tangibly it is reducing the system of internal controls, and we do. We insist on deputy head sign-off before something goes into your blue book. So we have assured ourselves that the items there have budget sou

Government Operations committee  If I may, you know the big binders we come equipped with for main estimates, about three years ago committees asked us if we could share that information. There was a significant change made to main estimates where we did departmental highlight sections, so you now have the infor

Government Operations committee  Yes. As a consideration, if the question is provided in advance the work is done and people come prepared to respond to it. It doesn't preclude others. That being said, we often get 10 or 20 questions from parliamentary researchers and not a single one of those questions is asked

Government Operations committee  From my perspective, it's a lot of the ancillary materials in the main estimates and the supplementary estimates. At a minimum, what you really need is the proposed bill. Pretty much everything else is optional, and it is there to help you in your study of the proposed bill. So