Government Operations committee  The Privy Council Office would provide advice on whatever the government asked to receive advice on, so that would be--

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I'm not really in a position to talk about what specific advice we would be asked to provide now on the matters that we're being asked to look at right now.

Government Operations committee  The whole issue of public assets was raised in the context of the economic statement last fall. The Minister of Finance or the finance department may be better placed to speak to specifics on that.

Government Operations committee  As a public servant, I'm just not at liberty to talk about the advice we're giving to the government.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I'd have to get back to the committee with the specifics, but I believe the home retrofit program was in the notice of ways and means motion, which means that, as has traditionally been the case, it took effect at that date and the follow-up legislative changes would f

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I have just a couple of comments. One is that, just in terms of sound risk management, I think the downside risks of job losses and the economy slowing further have to be taken into account in the risk management equation. When an examination is undertaken of spending

Government Operations committee  On the navigable waters act issue, that's been an issue that government has heard about from many stakeholders and from provinces in terms of that legislation, and it has decided to proceed with proposed amendments to the legislation to focus on only the ones that are of real con

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, the most obvious and I think one of the central means for accountability will be the quarterly reports that will be produced for both Parliament and for the public. I mentioned earlier that we have set up with our colleagues in the other central agencies a regular ser

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, our aim is certainly in support of the government, and I think the government's aim is to get the funds out the door as quickly as possible. Personally, I'm not an economist, and I would feel hesitant to speak about the specific timing. I think that would be a question

Government Operations committee  A number of things have been done, and I can itemize them. The first is with regard to the process for cabinet approvals. Work has been done to try to accelerate the normal cabinet approval process. Typically, it would be a number of months after a budget is put out that items w

Government Operations committee  I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, I don't totally understand the question. I'd like to help answer, but....

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I can't speak to specific items in terms of what PCO may or may not advise on, or to items that were discussed. I can, however, just in terms of the member's question, indicate that PCO does provide advice on the complete range of files the government deals with. So if

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, what I would say is that Privy Council Office is non-partisan. It is staffed by public servants. Our job is to provide neutral, non-partisan advice to the government and to loyally implement the policies and programs the government establishes. We would certainly giv

Government Operations committee  Merci . The Privy Council Office plays two roles. One is as secretariat to the cabinet, so PCO actually organizes, on behalf of the Prime Minister and on behalf of the chairs of the various cabinet committees, the actual meetings of ministers. We provide advice on what could be

Government Operations committee  The Treasury Board committee is actually supported by the Treasury Board Secretariat. It's the one committee actually established in law, and it has a process associated with it.