The initiative, the conception of the initiative, and some of the analysis and research that went on were led by the secretariat, yes, sir, but I'd be wrong to say that it's fully and utterly within the sphere of control and influence of the secretariat, because obviously there are many players, not the least of whom are the parliamentarians who have agreed to sit on the panel. As well, there are the agents of Parliament.
If I may, Mr. Chair, I'll go back a little bit in history to give the honourable member a bit more information.
The conception came about by virtue of the fact that for some time there had been discussions between the secretariat and the agents of Parliament about the tension that existed between the secretariat and agents in those scenarios in which the very body that was audited by the AG was also an influential voice in determining what the budgetary levels of that organization would be.
It was thought that to deal with any potential or perceived conflict of interest in that relationship, it would be wiser to bring, first, more neutral parties to the considerations at hand and a broader set of interests. In that way, the agents and the secretariat could be assured that there was a very careful and measured consideration of the budgetary requests of the agents of Parliament.