Government Operations Committee on April 19th, 2007

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

I am wondering, Madam Chair, if we might be able to get an answer to that question from the officials, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Could we, perhaps?

[Wayne Wouters]

Sure. I mean, through the President of the Treasury Board to the Minister of Finance, I think that could be done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Could we have that in writing?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

We'll see what the Minister of Finance says and--

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Well, no. I'm asking you, Minister, because you're in charge.

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

I can't make commitments on behalf of the Minister of Finance.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

But you're in charge of spending, and this is a commitment on government spending from the Conservative Part. I'm just wondering, because you're the minister in charge of spending, if you could actually get us that answer.

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

I'll see what I can provide you with.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Is that a yes, sir?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

I'll see what I can provide you with.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Is that a yes, sir?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Yes.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Very good. Thank you.

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

I'll see what I can provide you with.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Do you have a question, sir?

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

You have one minute.

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

With regard to the Public Appointments Commission once again, given that your government campaigned on transparency, could you maybe tell this committee how many appointments have been done without the supervision of the new Public Appointments Commission to date?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Obviously, if it hasn't been set up, none of them have.

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

How many appointments since you are in government?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

I'm not aware of that number.

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

Can you get back to us with that number, please?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

The Privy Council and the Prime Minister can get back to you on that, yes.

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

On their behalf, you will get back to us.

Secondly, with regard to the $776 million of cuts, again can we get a list of those cuts and which departments they were in and which programs, because in fact they were cut based on programs that were no longer effective.

I wonder if you can tell us what criteria you used to establish what was no longer effective, because for instance, on the court challenges program, literacy, status of women, there was a lot of backlash on those programs when they were cut. Obviously people thought they continued to be effective. Can you tell us what the criteria were on those programs?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

As I understand it, there were no cuts in respect of actual programming in respect of women. I've been through those numbers. I notice that the budget addressed that quite generously.

In respect of the other issues that you've raised—