When we try to describe in our reports what's available to parliamentarians in the way of information, we try to ask for things already collected in the ordinary course of business. The idea is not to impose a new activity burden or a new cost burden on the government. We can show you all of the fiscal exercises undertaken by the government and the collective information.
Without creating a new cost burden, even from an analytical point of view on your side, if the information can be provided in a manner that looks at inputs, outputs, and outcomes at a program activity level without adding a big infrastructure, it'll likely be more meaningful. We've talked about synchronizing the budget and appropriation bills to make them more accessible to parliamentarians.
Some of the improvements could be quite significant without imposing burdens on legislative staff. We hope that the information is there, that the resource is there, and that we're seeing a glimpse of it through the government's quarterly financial report. You're starting to get more information from departments on a quarterly basis, which enables understanding. So there's a potential to build on that without creating an additional burden. We've spoken to CFOs and they tell us they're collecting that anyway. They're using their internal processes. It's not a huge cost burden to provide this to parliamentarians, and it will make stuff more understandable.
If you're looking at the coast guard, as Mr. Page said, on a program activity basis, it's not about operating vote, capital vote, accrual accounting or cash accounting—it's about saving lives, sovereignty patrols, and those kinds of things. Then you could have a better appreciation for the resources going in, the inputs, the activities they're undertaking, and the results they're getting.