The creation of the ad hoc parliamentary advisory panel on the funding of officers of Parliament has had enormously beneficial effects. Its mere existence means that the Treasury Board and our office tend to come to agreement more easily on resource needs, knowing that at the end of the day there's a referee that is not the Treasury Board minister. Since the first meeting of the advisory panel for our estimates in the fall of 2005, we have had a very good working relationship with our Treasury Board officials.
