That's a very important question.
Our office does seek its funding through the regular parliamentary budget process. We submit a budget request to the Department of Finance, and it goes through the normal process that every department must go through.
You may recall that when I was nominated back in early 2020, my office had been looking for additional funding. At that time, I had put in a request for funding as well. We received the money I asked for, but I then talked about the need for an independent funding mechanism.
I think this is something that so many agents of Parliament should ensure they have. It is difficult for us to ask for money from a department that we audit. There should really be an independent mechanism through which we can turn to Parliament and have some accountability there.
I will tell you that since I received that money back in 2021, we have received additional mandates that have been unfunded. This is a continuous pressure point on my office.
Since 2021, the commissioner has received a mandate in the net-zero emissions act. There are five additional Crown corporations that we have been asked to audit, and none of those audits came with additional funding.
This is something I monitor. I will tell you that very soon I might be saying that if I don't want to impact the number of performance audits that I provide to Parliament, it's likely that I'll be needing additional funding.