I come to this fairly new, of course, and I'm happy to be here to ask a few questions.
This may have been asked before, but it seems to me, after reviewing the material, that the emphasis seems to be on MCs, memos to cabinet, for programs. I inferred that might be, in most cases, new programs, or new spins on old programs--as we've seen in the last two years or so--with new names for old programs.
What about existing programs? There are a number of pieces of approved legislation and spending authority attached to those pieces of legislation. I think back to unemployment insurance and old age security as good examples. If these are existing programs that have already gone to cabinet--some in Louis St. Laurent's time for the first time--how is it that GBA would ever be incorporated into a consideration of their core spending?
I can understand if they're new assets or facets to existing programs, fine, but how can we be assured that GBA is considered at the very beginning in cabinet decisions respecting existing programs?
Maybe that's a stupid question, I don't know.