On the act in particular, I think what your question is leading to is the whole issue of the accounting officer and the role that the new deputy ministers will have to play in appearing before parliamentary committees for the purpose of answering their questions.
The act is clear on what is going to happen if there is a conflict between the deputy minister and the minister on a matter that deals with administration or, generally speaking, issues that are governed by directives and policies of Treasury Board. In those circumstances, you may have a deputy minister who says he's a bit caught because the minister is asking him to do something. He thinks that what the minister is asking him to do goes against the policies and directives. Where does he go for guidance on something like this? The act says that in circumstances like this, he should go to the Secretary of the Treasury Board, who is a deputy minister, but a deputy minister who has special expertise. That deputy minster—the Secretary of the Treasury Board—will see to it that the matter is resolved. If it is not, the matter is going to be brought to the attention of the Treasury Board itself, which is, as you know, the committee of cabinet that would make the final determination.
What the act is trying to do with respect to matters of that nature is provide guidance and provide the mechanism whereby the situation will be resolved. Again, this mechanism is with respect to these types of issues. There are many more issues that deputy ministers and the bureaucracy in general have to deal with on a daily basis, and they do not in any way, shape, or form diminish the role the Clerk of the Privy Council would have to play in those circumstances. Again, in other cases the deputy minister would seek guidance from the clerk, and the matter, if it needs to be resolved at a higher level, will have to go the Prime Minister.