Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I too would like to welcome you here, Mr. Minister, and your officials as well.
As you observed in your opening remarks, our committee has undertaken a study on the estimates process, not only for us to understand the process but also to identify whether there might be some improvements that we would want to recommend. I think it would be fair to say that we readily welcome the opportunity to meet with you and ministers and officials from other departments to do the work we need to do in looking at the main and the supplementary estimates.
We also have started a study, previous to the estimates study, which is on Shared Services Canada. I know that it's a fairly young organization, or is still in the process of being formed, but this is the first time that Shared Services Canada has appeared in the main estimates. Could you briefly explain, from your perspective, whether these are new funds or where the funding is coming from, and give us a better understanding of that entity?