Government Operations committee  No, I'm not.

Government Operations committee  The Public Sector Accounting Board issues accounting standards for senior levels of government. In doing that they have a research staff of professionals who prepare policy papers for review by a task force. That task force is made up of professionals and non-professionals, and I

Government Operations committee  First off, it's not easy understanding accrual. Somehow I did and I'm not an accountant, so there is hope. Where I come from on this is that when you approve a capital expenditure in the current year—let's say the government is going to build a new building for $500 million—you

Government Operations committee  That's right.

Government Operations committee  At least it would provide a source of power for the committees. They'd get more information on what it is they're voting on or be able to make suggestions as to how changes could be made. I guess I'm of the view that right now you table the estimates by a certain time period an

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  I believe so, yes.

Government Operations committee  I believe in your everyday work you may deal more with programs that are available to individuals and your constituents than a vote structure that is very difficult to explain to anybody. On that basis, as I've argued, I think that more information should be provided on programs.

Government Operations committee  I think more analysis of the estimates has to be done and it has to be done by a cast supporting this committee, or other committees. Whether that's the PBO.... I said the PBO should be made an agent of Parliament and be made more independent, but there are a lot of functions tha

Government Operations committee  I would say don't bring back the part IIIs, just change the reports on plans and priorities.

Government Operations committee  First of all, I believe the information is all there, so it can be done. It depends on how far down you want to go in this process. I would start slowly, rather than taking it all on in one lump sum, so that you get some familiarity with the new information that you receive and y

Government Operations committee  Well, we're not very close to it today, even though departments are supposed to do ongoing evaluations of their programs. At one point in time the Office of the Comptroller General did that. That was changed and that responsibility was transferred back to the departments and agen

Government Operations committee  What we're seeing here today, just by having this committee review the estimates, is a sign that there is something that's not right and that most members agree that change has to be made. You've had many meetings on this. You've called forward many witnesses who have given you t

Government Operations committee  I'm a little pessimistic on that one. When I was asked before about the number of times I had presented my views on what should be included in the estimates and hadn't gotten anywhere on it.... As you said, there is some inertia in the system. There is a tendency to not change an

Government Operations committee  That is a thought. Yes. That could be something.... In order to ensure that you do review everything or that everything does get reviewed within a certain time period, then you leave that one open until such time....