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Government Operations committee That's correct.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee We can be quite confident that the operating budget freeze will control operating spending. We are setting the bar, essentially, in this current fiscal year, 2010-11, and then freezing for the next two years. Since departments have to respect their program or operating votes and cannot exceed those votes, we are quite confident that spending will remain controlled at least for program and operating votes, vote 1 for most departments.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee I'll give a quick response to Madame Bourgeois. What my colleague Ms. Santiago was explaining is that when we don't need the funds for a particular program, which may reflect just a drop-off in demand, that helps us reduce the overall requirements for appropriations. When we come to Parliament we ask for funds on a net basis, and we use any funds that are available in programs that are not being used to reduce the amount we were asking for from you.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee I might turn to my colleagues for some more detail to answer your question. Yes, it is normal that we write off unrecoverable student loan debts. Eight out of ten borrowers do repay on time and with very few difficulties. For those who have difficulties, there are a range of things we try to do to prevent default.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee Perhaps I can turn to one of my colleagues, Sally Thornton.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee No, that is the $300 million.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee Well, not exactly. As you heard from the deputies you brought before the committee, each deputy, as the accounting officer for their department, has the flexibility to determine how the savings will be achieved. So they may want to continue to hire in some cases or refrain from hiring, or they may find savings in contracting or in other areas of operating spending.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee First, just let me mention that the $10-billion reduction in main estimates that was cited is a comparison of the main estimates for this year coming, 2011-2012, with the previous year, 2010-2011. Of that, $6 billion is due to a reduction in voted spending, $4 billion in statutory spending.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee That is it—it's one in the same.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee Certainly I will try. As you said, the operating budget freeze for the 2010-11 fiscal year will result in savings of $300 million. Some of the savings have been taken and essentially clawed back within the estimates, and some of the savings are due to the fact that we are not asking for the funding.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee That's correct.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee We're not asking for the additional funding to compensate departments.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee The reductions have to do with the 1.5% wage increase, which departments would otherwise have been compensated for. For this 1.5% applied under the Expenditure Restraint Act, we would normally compensate departments. We're not compensating them for that. Therefore, they have to absorb that reduction from their operating budgets.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee Thank you, Chair. I'm pleased to be here with my colleagues from Treasury Board to present the supplementary estimates (C). We'll start with that, and if you wish, we would be happy to answer any questions you may have after that. My colleagues include Christine Walker, who is the assistant secretary and chief financial officer at Treasury Board; David Enns, who is the deputy assistant secretary of expenditure management sector; Sally Thornton, who is the executive director of expenditure operations; and Marcia Santiago, who is the senior director in the same area of expenditure operations.
March 1st, 2011Committee meeting
Alister Smith
Government Operations committee There may be some other costs in there, too, for the operations of the other offices, but that's primarily it, as far as we know.
December 2nd, 2010Committee meeting
Alister Smith