Thank you, Mr. Chair.
There are two things. A department can't do it by itself. They actually have to come to the Treasury Board Secretariat, central agencies, and Finance, and basically get agreement that they are indeed going to freeze that. It's not an action that a department can take by itself.
Typically, they freeze it because there has been a reduction in another area, or maybe because it's acknowledged that the funding can't be spent this year and they'd like to spend it in a future year, which is subject to parliamentary appropriation, but typically it's because something else has happened. They cannot do it by themselves.
You're right, it doesn't explain away the issue. It's just additional context.