One of the provisions in the act of Parliament for the parliamentary budget officer is a provision to seek information from departments and agencies. Certainly, when working with members around this table, with other committees, and with other members not part of committees dealing with specific questions, we will have the capacity to approach deputy ministers and their departments to ask for that information. To bring back a deeper understanding of what's behind those numbers would certainly be one of our objectives when we ask for that information.
Often when one is looking at a range of costs, whether it's retrofits or take-up on a certain program, understanding what some of the factors are that could drive some of those costs is almost as important as any point estimate that we could provide to you. You'll have a sense of what class of estimate or projection has been put, if it's dealing with real property related issues or if it's dealing with take-up. Because very often even folks at the Department of Finance for fiscal planning purposes will be forced to put a number on the table, and behind the scenes they worry about take-up on programs. They worry about risk that may happen on the capital side as well. That information is very seldom brought forward.
So I think the role of the parliamentary budget officer will be to work with you to make sure you're satisfied that you have a good understanding of what's behind those numbers.