Years ago we would just provide what we call the “voted amounts” in the main estimates. The government tabled the main estimates last week, and they total about $125 billion. We also provide information on statutory amounts so that Canadians and parliamentarians have a lens of the total spend. Ultimately, what it will be in an appropriation bill for Parliament to vote upon is that $125-billion component of the main estimates.
Those main estimates are based on a cascading series of government decisions that have been taken over time. So you have a stock of this base spending for government operations going forward, but there may be new initiatives that come about through either a budget or a fall economic statement, or just initiatives throughout the year that the government is recommending for approval and that go through Treasury Board. Once that happens, then those supplements, effectively, are brought to bear. Any government that has operated has always operated on the basis of being able to bring forward supplementary spending throughout the year to be able to build on the main estimates based on the priorities of the day, and to deal with the initiatives.
This process has existed since 1867. The broader supply process is probably one of the oldest in government. There are three supply periods designated specifically because there's an expectation that there will be new spending decisions being taken in support of critical services and so forth for Canadians through the year. As such, those supply periods and those supplementary estimates provide the vehicle by which parliamentarians can consider them and be able to vote on them.
This is standard practice that has existed for a long time, and it's probably very similar in the Ontario system.