Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the second opportunity.
I don't know if we'll have any more questions after this, but I'm going to focus on recommendation 12, if you don't mind. I'm one of the individuals who looks at things, and I didn't actually know, to be frank with you, that there was.... I knew about the tax expenditure piece and that it was straight numbers. I didn't know that there were reviews of how we're doing. As an example, with the youth tax credit or whatever, there's a review of how that program is doing and the goals we were trying to achieve. I appreciate that.
Also, I appreciate that you're in line with the committee's intent and that you're willing to bring it to a committee to discuss it if they ask you to come in and discuss this thing.
I have two questions.
Would it be more valuable, in your mind, since we are talking about programming—and I'm really looking forward to what the Treasury Board is going to bring forward, as it really sounds great—for us to actually look not at the tax expenditure documentation, but at the actual review of how the programs are doing? That is one of my questions.
My other question is on your response. I want to be clear on it. You say, “...the yearly budget process, in studies published in Tax Expenditures and Evaluations,” and then you have, “or through consultations, advisory committees...”. Does this mean that some tax expenditures are not in that document because they've been reviewed in another process?
My third question is this: do we, as members of Parliament, vote on tax expenditures? I know you're saying that it's the purview of the.... I understand that it's not the departments' responsibility and it's the responsibility of Minister of Finance, but as members of Parliament, do we not actually vote somewhere along the line on these tax expenditures in support of them happening?
Those are my three questions. Good luck in answering them.