Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair.
I know that we agreed previously, on May 11, to a certain schedule for the balance of the year, other than June 15, but from the government's perspective, we feel that the time on June 13 and 15 would be better spent looking at the communications policy that currently governs government advertising and the procedures and the role of Advertising Standards Canada. I appreciate that the last scheduled week for the committee sitting will possibly be interrupted by a fair number of votes and whatnot, which might limit it, but we feel this would be a better way to spend the time.
Frankly, if we try to get the PBO in at this point to talk about the estimates process, I'm not sure how much questioning we would get in with the PBO on that topic, because there are other reasons that people may want to question the PBO not related to the estimates study. I just want to make sure we remain focused on the business of the committee. For that reason, just to be frank, I don't feel that, at this time, bringing the PBO in will achieve the purpose the estimates study is meant to achieve.
There is good work that can be done by the committee in looking at the advertising standards. That's a big change. It affects $100 million of budget within government a year. We feel that it would be worthwhile for us to take a look at that to make sure the changes that are made will achieve a positive purpose rather than a negative one. There will be lots of good lines of reasoning and questioning from all sides on that new policy.
Thank you.