The budget is the most normal way that you'll see funding. The budget is once a year. So if you've got cabinet approval of something and there is a need to spend in the current year and you've missed the budget, is there a way around that? Yes there is. Departments can make a case to the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister to get effectively an off-budget cycle funding approval. That means they have the blessing of the minister responsible for the fiscal results to go ahead and they have what we call funding approval.
That would still require them to come to Treasury Board and if there's money needed to be added to their votes they would still have to come through the estimates process.
You did mention that the main estimates are the bulk of the spending but there is more in supplementary estimates. You would also see things that are old programs. Oftentimes our programs have a five-year lifespan and they get renewed frequently but sometimes they don't get renewed to make it into the main estimates. So you may find the odd program that's been around for a while missed the main estimates but comes back through the supplementary estimates. The budget announcement there could have been quite some time ago.
I'll give you a good example from, I believe it was two estimates ago, the contract policing for the RCMP. If you looked at the main estimates you would have seen a massive drop in RCMP spending. It was because the contract renewal for that function with the provinces had been missed for the mains. It was, I believe, in supplementary estimates (A) so there was a big amount in the supplementary estimates that effectively brought the RCMP back to its normal levels. So you will see that from time to time as well.