If I could, Mr. Chair, we are actually not subject to that process. There's a provision in the Parliament of Canada Act that designates that the Speaker is the appropriate minister for the purposes of the Financial Administration Act. It also indicates that once the Speaker has signed off on the estimates, they are sent to the President of the Treasury Board to be included in the estimates. At the moment, we are not a participant in the committee process you've described that applies to other officers of Parliament. Because we are part of the parliamentary entity, we are not subject to other ministers, as those organizations are. They each have appropriate ministers.
On April 10th, 2008. See this statement in context.