Thank you for that input, Ms. Smith. I think you'll be challenged to find any disrespect I've shown to the minister. I said that I appreciate her being here today, but speaking on behalf of the committee, we have an obligation to review the estimates of the departments. We chose three, in a very truncated period of time, in order to give the government Parliament's permission to spend money throughout the summer. We chose three of the many government ministries we could have examined, and of those three, one of the ministers attended in time and before the estimates were reported back to Parliament. The other two were unable to attend. I expressed my dissatisfaction and I think we should leave it at that.
Minister, we're glad you're here. Thank you. After your report or presentation to us, there'll be questions, but we should note--and I will note once again--that your estimates have already been deemed adopted by Parliament without examination. The questions are a pro forma courtesy.
I've served notice, and I will say it again, that in future we're going to expand, I hope, the examination of estimates, much as we do in some of the provinces. We're talking about billions and billions of dollars' worth of spending here, and the constitutional right of Parliament to examine the estimates is something that we value and that we're going to exercise.
Minister, the floor is yours.