Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Basically, the estimates that are produced, which are in front of you today, are the authority received to date at a point in time. That normally is around early January. There is a cut-off date that is imposed by Treasury Board and any subsequent approval will be reflected in the supplementary estimates.
If you refer, for example, to page II-1 of the estimates, or in general, when we were at this committee last year, the estimates of the department were about $2.4 billion, and throughout the three supplementary estimates process we increased the budget of the department by about $369 million, to $2.8 billion. This is a trend that has been consistent with the history of this department, basically to a high of $800 million in fiscal year 2009-10 and, as I mentioned, $369 million last year. The estimates that are produced at a given time are like a snapshot or picture of the authority that we have in place.
Since then, as the minister said earlier, the department has received the authority to negotiate a bilateral agreement with the provinces. The funding for that was not approved in time to be included in the estimates, but it will be coming back to this committee in supplementary estimates at a later date, and this will be reflected in the future budget of the department.
Again, it's a picture in time and things move throughout the year. Last year, the Wheat Board, again, was not reflected in the main estimates. The department sought cabinet authority and Treasury Board authority, and the money was flowed back into the department in supplementary estimates (B).
This is a consistent process. It's like a wheel in motion and basically at the time of the production of the estimates, we take a picture of what the authorities are. We wish we could include everything we can up until today, but the system being what the system is...to make sure that these numbers are reflected and put in the department's budget for April 1.