Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Minister and Deputy Minister and your officials, for appearing here today.
First of all, Mr. Chairman, I trust you'll give me the same leeway in answering questions that you gave the minister in making his opening statement, so I'll look forward to that.
I'm sure you're aware that members opposite believe strongly in openness and accountability, not to mention ethics in government. Supplementary estimates (B) identify more than $32 million in additional funding, including $15.6 million for AECL and $12.3 million for the National Energy Board.
Would I be correct to assume that your office, Minister, has some input into these funding requests and that the members of your staff approve of them?