Government Operations committee  Those amounts, once voted, can be spent. Anything that wasn't contemplated or accounted for in there must wait for further supply.

Government Operations committee  Normally Parliament would vote in March to give three months of what we call interim supply. Committees then normally have that time to review the reports on plans and priorities, committee by committee, department by department. In June we have a vote on what we call full supply, which is really July to March.

Government Operations committee  We'd come back in October to propose any supplementary items, and can come back one more time, in March, to propose final supplementary items. So really, when you think of when we're putting it in front of Parliament, it's March, June, October, March.

Government Operations committee  I guess the question is partly one of discipline but partly one of practicality. Given the timing of the budget, the government may not be in a position to have all the details in terms of the vote structure and the details necessary to go to Parliament by March 1 to give effect to those plans.

Government Operations committee  Such circumstances essentially are case by case, and I believe the accountable minister would need to be asked, and the department in question, as to what their plans are for implementing any change that they do propose. There are no Treasury Board or estimates-based guidelines or rules or sums that would guide a specific choice.

Government Operations committee  The short answer is no, the estimates do not contemplate specific penalties. I think it's important to expand on that, in the sense that all of the major transfers to provinces or to individuals are in fact paid according to statutory authority. So any plan a government would have to change fundamentally those payments would need to come to Parliament, not through the estimates but through an actual bill, to change.

Government Operations committee  I'll leave it to the chair to deal with the relationships among the committees.

Government Operations committee  That's quite complete, yes.

Government Operations committee  If I had been in front of the committee some years ago, I would have felt obliged to answer that question. I think I should limit my response to two points. One is to say that the current budget is a two-year framework. In terms of our responsibilities, for practical purposes, we seek the balance in terms of spending authority for one year; we inform Parliament through the reports on plans and priorities of the plans for three years.

Government Operations committee  I think the core instrument of input that Parliament would have would be in respect to the process of review of the detailed main estimates. Committees will undertake this now through the fall, since the reports on plans and priorities will be tabled in September--that is the plan.

Government Operations committee  We've tabled with the clerk a document that outlines to members the former wording of the vote and the new wording of the vote, as well as the guidelines. I'll ask my colleague to summarize, because she was the one who actually guided the vote wording change in response to this dialogue, which did go on for a couple of years.

Government Operations committee  I'll start that. I'll turn to my colleague to ask for a couple of specific points. First of all, the main estimates are already, as members can see, quite thick. There are a great many votes, so there is a question of practicality: we have to keep the number of votes large but finite.

Government Operations committee  All of them are listed. Thanks. So regarding the $5 million, I guess the only other point is that all capital spending is clearly captured in aggregate by department. It's a question again of whether it is dealt with separately in a capital vote. I'll ask my colleague if the $5 million has been adjusted recently.

Government Operations committee  Thank you. Should I refrain from dealing now with the Governor General's warrants?

Government Operations committee  All right. First, about the information provided on page 5, that is the possibility to realign resources from one activity or vote to another, this is very important. It refers to the planning process. For example, if the government submits votes to Parliament, and if those votes are approved, the resources appropriated may be changed in future Estimates.