I certainly agree in that I don't look at this as an end state. I look at this as a kind of marathon journey that actually has no finish line. We are continuously seeking ways to improve our ability to operate horizontally, to coordinate between departments to find ways to ensure that the synergies you can achieve through bringing together different departments with different policy levers and different policy expertise are brought to bear on a given problem. I think there's no question that if you went back and started at Confederation and then went forward, you would see that continuously through time.
We are becoming more and more sophisticated in our understanding not only of science but of how certain policy initiatives may impact on other things. Our capacity to measure the results of programs has been making leaps and bounds over the last decade compared to where we used to be. Our sophistication around understanding policy levers, understanding the results they generate, the consequences that they sometimes generate, has been improving. As all of those things improve, our job is to continuously try to find ways to work better together to ensure that we arrive at the best possible solution for Canadians.
It's not something where there's ever going to be an end state, where we're going to say, okay, we're done, and we've now achieved perfect horizontality. I don't think that exists. I think it's a continuous journey, and I think it's one in which we're probably--I would say, arguably, compared to some other governments around the world--fairly well advanced, particularly given that we're talking about a federal system of government, which complicates things. There are three levels of government that we have to consider and think about when we're making policy decisions, as well as the international level. It's a far more global world than it once was.
I do think we are making progress, and I think it's a continuous kind of thing. There is certainly always room for improvement. We have a lot of things, as Ms. Biguzs mentioned, that are entrained that I think will help us to better understand horizontal impacts.