Very quickly, I don't think there is a stalemate. I commend to you the document “Open and Accountable Government”, which is the software of Westminster government on the roles of ministers, deputy heads, and elsewhere. There was a version that Prime Minister Harper issued at the beginning of his government, which you'd be familiar with. It was revised in some areas and reissued by Prime Minister Trudeau at the beginning of his government. That is the play book, and it makes the roles very clear.
I think you may have formed an impression from the Auditor General's chapter—because he alludes to this in a sort of sideways way—that officials should have spoken up at certain intervals and asked for more resources. Well, you'd be aware that there is no way for officials to ask for resources—there isn't.
You go to Treasury Board with a submission signed by a minister. If a minister will not sign a request for resources, it doesn't happen. If a minister will not make a request to the Minister of Finance for a budget submission, it won't happen. There is no channel by which senior officials can ask for resources.