Good morning, Mr. Chair.
We are pleased to meet with the members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. I am accompanied by Simon Kennedy, Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Plans and Consultations) and by Tim Sargent, Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Liaison Secretariat for Macroeconomic Policy. We also have other officials here to assist us, whom I will introduce if necessary.
I am pleased to appear before the committee today to talk about the 2008-09 supplementary estimates B for the Privy Council Office.
PCO's last appearance before the committee was in April 2008, regarding our 2008-09 main estimates.
As you and the committee members know, the Privy Council Office reports directly to the Prime Minister and is led by the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet. In his capacity as head of the Public Service, the Clerk is the official link between the Prime Minister and the Public Service.
The purpose of today's appearance is to discuss the 2008-09 supplementary estimates for PCO as well as the budget issues.
PCO is requesting an amount of $10.08 million in three areas: for the Afghanistan task force; for the internal inquiry into the actions of Canadian officials in relation to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati, and Muayyed Nureddin; and for the commission of inquiry into the investigation of the bombing of Air India flight 182.
The first request is for $4.742 million to fund the establishment and the operations of the Afghanistan task force.
On February 8, 2008, the Prime Minister announced the creation of the cabinet committee on Afghanistan and an Afghanistan task force within PCO to better coordinate and ensure the effectiveness and success of Canada's activities in Afghanistan. The task force has the objective of providing advice and support to the Prime Minister and the cabinet committee on Afghanistan in the delivery of a strategic plan to transform Canada's role in Afghanistan. Key results to date include the establishment of six priorities for Canada in Afghanistan; re-profiled programming; establishment of benchmarks; enhanced communications and engagement with Parliament, including a tabled quarterly report: and increased civilian staffing.
The second request is for $2.944 million to fund the ongoing activities of the internal inquiry into the actions of Canadian officials in relation to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati, and Muayyed Nureddin.
The internal inquiry was established on December 11, 2006, under part I of the Inquiries Act on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. The Honourable Frank Iacobucci was appointed commissioner. The terms of reference direct him to determine whether the detention of the three individuals in Syria or Egypt resulted, directly or indirectly, from action of Canadian officials, and if so, whether those actions were deficient in the circumstances, whether any mistreatment resulted from the actions of the Canadian officials, and whether there were deficiencies in the provision of consular services.
Additional funding is requested in these supplementary estimates B because of additional time required by the commissioner and his staff to complete a number of required tasks, which include receiving submissions from the Attorney General regarding proposed factual findings; preparing and sharing with inquiry participants an unclassified summary of relevant facts and receiving submissions on this summary from participants; receiving and considering submissions on the appropriate standards for the conduct of Canadian officials, based principally on a public hearing held on January 8 and 9, 2008; agreeing with the Attorney General on a report for public disclosure that would not cause injury to national security or international relations; and additional hearings on final submissions.
The third request is for $2.395 million to fund the ongoing activities of the commission of inquiry into the investigation of the bombing of Air India flight 182.
The commission was established on May 1, 2006, under part I of the Inquiries Act. The terms of reference of this commission require the commissioner, the Honourable John C. Major, to conduct the inquiry as he considers appropriate with respect to accepting as conclusive or giving weight to the findings of other examinations of the circumstances surrounding the bombing of Air India flight 182. Additional funding is requested for 2008-09 in these supplementary estimates, since the work plan had to be adjusted as a result of extensions to the hearing schedule, which were due to the high volume of documents received by the commission and to unforeseen delays in getting the documents.
In closing, I would like to thank you for giving me this time to inform you of the ongoing initiatives in the 2008-2009 Supplementary Estimates (B).