Government Operations Committee on Nov. 24th, 2011

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

It's not pretty at all.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

No, it's not pretty at all. It's the moustache talking.

Under vote 5, government contingencies, I just have a quick question about AECL there. Can you give me some more details as to what the contingency vote is that we're talking about here—and also on vote 10, government-wide initiatives?

I'll try not to take up too much of your time.

[Bill Matthews]

Vote 5, government contingencies, is basically for unforeseen circumstances that a department or organization cannot fund itself and cannot wait for the next estimate cycle.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Particularly on AECL...?

[Bill Matthews]

In particular, AECL.... As you know, they've had some challenges.

The way the government contingency vote works is that a case is made; it is effectively approved; and money is provided; and then we come back later through the estimates process to effectively top that back up. So this is an urgent type of funding mechanism in-between estimates processes.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Are we fleshing out the details of what caused the urgency?

[Bill Matthews]

Well, AECL did not have enough funds to operate.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

And what is vote 10, government-wide initiatives, for?

[Bill Matthews]

Vote 10, government-wide Initiatives, is typically used for projects that involve multiple departments, typically around improving efficiencies or service delivery, and those types of things. I can't recall off the top of my head if we have funding in vote 10 for this.

[Michelle d'Auray]

There's very little in vote 10. There's about $10 million left.

[Bill Matthews]

Yes.

[Michelle d'Auray]

It has been used in the past when initiatives such as Government Online, for example, are established. In this case, vote 10 was used to transfer funds to government departments. You can use supplementary estimates or estimates processes, or you can use allocations from central votes, but the description of the central votes is actually on page 147 of the supplementary estimates. So get a sense there that vote 10 is to supplement other appropriations, if you have a government-wide initiative. And you normally report against that vote.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

It's across departments, is that what you're saying?

[Michelle d'Auray]

Yes, it's across government—but we use that very infrequently. It is a vote that can be used for those initiatives, but is very seldom used because we tend to want to actually have the amounts ascribed to each of the operating votes of each department, because that is a cleaner reporting mechanism.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Normally $10 million is what...?

[Michelle d'Auray]

It's what's left in the vote right now. There's nothing attributed to it. It is just an unallocated amount that is sitting in the vote. It is not allocated; it is not being allocated to any activity.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Good.

That concludes the testimony from our witnesses. We thank you all very much. It was very useful, very helpful. You're always welcome back here. In fact, we need you back here on a regular basis.

Thank you for coming.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Yes, Alexandre Boulerice.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

I move that the rest of the meeting of the committee continue in public. I also ask that members' votes on this subject be recorded. I do not think there is any reason to keep what we want to discuss secret. These are things we can discuss in front of everyone.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

So you're interested in having the rest of the meeting, the planning part of the meeting, done in public--

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Exactly.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

--rather than in camera.

That motion is non-debatable.

All those in favour of doing the rest of the planning meeting--

[An hon. member]

A recorded vote.