Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you, Mr. Marleau. I want to say how often we think of you. Even though you may feel you are distant now, many of us carry around your book, Marleau and Montpetit, like a Bible and use it very well. So you're often in our thoughts, even if you're not here physically.
I want to thank you for this very helpful recommendation. Coming from the province of Manitoba, since I've been here, I have often found it odd how little time we spend on estimates. We dedicate all our time after the fact at the public accounts committee, scrutinizing every nickel that was spent and often criticizing how it was spent, but almost no time at the front end in reviewing the estimates.
Where I come from, it is not unusual to bring the minister in to a committee in the legislature in Manitoba and stay there all night. They will spend 50 to 60 hours of committee time on the Minister of Health's budget, going line by line and grilling that minister on everything he proposes to spend in the coming year. That has two positive effects: first of all, that's the correct time to give it that level of scrutiny, and second, the minister or his deputy or his technical people have to become an absolute authority on everything that's being spent.
I think this is an excellent idea. It's a graphic illustration of the benefit of giving all this time to hearing so many witnesses for this important bill. This is the type of thing we are getting here. I certainly hope we can agree to expand the role of the budget officer. Perhaps we can ask you for even further detail as to how you see that fleshing out. I won't dwell on that.
I do have a question, though. There are enemies of Bill C-2. There are people who don't want to see it go ahead. I won't say if some are political. Some, I think, are entrenched in the bureaucracy. But first of all, what is your view on omnibus bills? Do you think some of these bills get so big and so massive that they collapse under their own weight? Do you see it a viable option sometimes to hive off some of the less controversial components and deal with them separately?
Could you speak to that briefly?