Bernard Trottier at the Government Operations and Estimates Committee

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. DeVries, for coming in today.

There have been differing points of view about the budget and the linkage to the estimates. Some people have said it's really just a guiding policy framework, not necessarily an accounting document. But I think the majority of the witnesses, yourself included, have indicated that it will strengthen the estimates process to have them anchored to the budget.

I just want to clarify one thing about budget implementation. Is that a necessary step in the sausage-making of the estimates? Can you go directly from a budget document to estimates, or do you need the budget implementation to make it a reality?