Yes, thank you.
The Government Operations Centre does not get involved in policy arrangements between any agencies, so it would not be involved per se in the MOU between the RCMP and Transport Canada. Its role is operational and it's one of information and coordination. It is there to coordinate and provide information among all the operations centres in government and also to coordinate with provinces, where the case may be, and sometimes even with local municipalities.
I could give you an example of the recent floods in Manitoba. Many people were involved in that. The Government Operations Centre was producing regular reports, at one time four times a day, and eventually it was a little bit less. We were liaising with the Manitoba government and providing them with all the information we had. We were ensuring that the Canadian Forces were aware of the situation in case they might be asked to provide support.
So it's very much to ensure coordination of all the Government of Canada activities, inform all the various players in the Government of Canada so that everyone has the same information, and add that extra dimension to the provincial and municipal dimensions, if necessary.
You may recall a major explosion in Toronto about a year and a half ago. There was a concern that search and rescue equipment in Toronto might not be sufficient. Through the Ontario Operations Centre and the Toronto area police forces, a request came in to the Government Operations Centre, and we lined up search and rescue equipment from another Canadian city that could have been brought in, if necessary.
So it's very much coordination of various government operations across the board. In that way we are better equipped to deal with any issue.