If an appropriation hasn't been made for that specific expenditure, I don't think that a committee of cabinet or otherwise is authorized to take that money and spend it in another appropriation. We have adjustment votes for precisely that eventuality, and that is always reflected, and should be reflected, in the documents brought to cabinet.
I know that there was a concern, for example, with the gun registry, that there had been a commitment to spend no more than $25 million a year, I think it was, and then money was taken from an appropriation that was not authorized for that gun registry and spent on the gun registry. That drew criticism from the Auditor General, as I recall.
If that's the issue you're raising, I think it's a very important issue, because if money is not appropriated for a specific use or within that general appropriation, it cannot be used for that. There must be a vote of Parliament and not of the operations committee to transfer money from one appropriation to another appropriation.