I really want to get some of these changes done and moved forward. The part that we have to spend a lot of time on is the departmental report. This morning we're not talking much about the departmental reports, but I think that's a big item. I think program-based budgeting for members of Parliament, parliamentarians....
I say “members of Parliament”, but I'm also talking about Senators. There is a lot of expertise in the Senate on budget estimates processes, particularly on the Senate finance committee.
It's my view that Parliament better engaged, parliamentary committees better engaged, Parliament as a whole better engaged, can help contribute to the analysis of budget items and measure the effectiveness of them. There should be some things we can agree on, on a non-partisan basis; one consists of measures that will clearly improve the ability of Parliament to do its job.