Government Operations committee  Does Mr. Lebel consult the premiers? Does he consult the various provinces on some common issues?

Government Operations committee  I assume the minister of democratic reform is under your aegis somewhere. I can't imagine he comes up with every idea himself, so he has to get learned advice. Does he get this learned advice from members of your staff?

Government Operations committee  I just have some questions about the Queen's Privy Council organization. What are the President of the Queen's Privy Council's functions? What does he actually do?

Government Operations committee  It's not one of those things you say I don't know to, because you're the PCO.

Government Operations committee  Therefore you couldn't tell me how many people work for him, not at Infrastructure but in the other job?

Government Operations committee  Sorry. I'm talking about the appointment of the President of the Queen's Privy Council. That is, the individual today who is the infrastructure minister is also a privy councillor. I'm asking what his function is. Forget Infrastructure. What's his function?

Government Operations committee  One good thing I've just heard from you is that if you download you can ask to be identified so that people know you're out there and interested. That at least helps some of the subs to get the word out that they're around.

Government Operations committee  Madam d'Auray, I think my question is for you. I've had a number of complaints about the contracting process, and I'd like you to explain to me how the process works with prime contractors and subcontractors.

Government Operations committee  The complaints I have from a number of people are the subs. When you went from the old system where you had MERX.... Do you still have something like MERX? I don't know.

Government Operations committee  I assume that this system was adopted to reduce the number of contracts. In the past, I believe you had subcontracts. You had every kind of contract, and you have fewer contracts now. If you don't win a contract as a prime, then as a sub, you have to wait for a prime to pick yo

Government Operations committee  Yes, and I accept the research thing—that's pretty common-sense—and we're involved in training, but a heck of a lot of money is going to university students for loans and things like that.

Government Operations committee  Why are we into that area?

Government Operations committee  I'm not arguing about whether they're paid back or not. I'm not worried about losing money. The issue is, isn't this a provincial responsibility? Aren't provinces responsible to run their universities and to keep their students at university, not the federal government?

Government Operations committee  Yes, I know, but—

Government Operations committee  —aren't we interfering with provincial jurisdiction?