Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Again, I'm looking at the report on plans and priorities. We talked about item 1.5 in the report, which is “Internal services”. I'd like to focus my attention this time on item 1.1, which is “Prime Minister and portfolio ministers' support and advice”.
If you look at the six-year trend, there's a healthy trend if cost containment is your objective. It's not nearly as dramatic as in other areas.
Drilling down into 1.1. there are a couple of items I want some clarification on. It's related to what's called in your report on plans and priorities “International affairs” and assistance for international affairs and security.
Obviously, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade does a lot of work. I'm trying to understand the role of the PCO in assisting those efforts. As you know, there has been a big push within this government around international trade in particular. Is that something the PCO supports? We're the tenth largest economy with the 35th largest population. We can't just rely on our internal market, so we have this aggressive trade agenda. Would you describe that? I saw some mention of trade in your RPP.