I'm glad you asked me that question. I expected that type of question on the budget process, having read the transcripts from the Privy Council Office meeting and the Treasury Board meeting.
I'm speaking to this as the gender-based analysis champion for the Department of Finance. Basically, policies are developed in departments. Proposals are looked at. Everything is going on in departments as well as in other areas, but I'll take them in chunks.
Policies are being developed in departments. Gender-based analysis is being done in the departments as these policies are being developed, and they come through the cabinet committee process. This is one aspect. The policies are developed; they come through the cabinet committee process. They go through the policy committee, the social and economic, etc. Those policies are worked on more and finally approved, and then there's approval in principle for these policies from a cabinet perspective. That's one mechanism that feeds into the department for determining how the budget process works.
The Department of Finance, of course, then looks at the economic and fiscal context--what's happening in the economy and what that means in terms of the amount of money that is going to be available in that broader context. It sets the framework that's available for the funding that's going to fund the different proposals.
Then a broad consultation is undertaken. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance does consultations and writes a report, which we then review. It feeds directly into the process as to what the recommendations are. That's another perspective that feeds into the budget process.
The Minister of Finance goes across the country consulting, generally. He gets ideas and submissions for the budget process. Also, the Department of Finance has an online consultation, so anybody who wants to can feed into that process. All these ideas go into the pot. They'll have different weights, etc., but they all go into the policy ideas that make up the budget.
The department itself meets.... Basically, in my tenure at Finance we've never said no to a group that wanted to meet with us, generally speaking. If somebody wants to come and give us an idea, we'd listen to that idea, and that would also go into the pot for consideration.