Government Operations committee  Yes, currently we have reallocated within the Privy Council Office to support this new function.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair. I can assure you it's not just for PCO. What I can do, if you like, is give you a breakdown of it. Karen, jump in, if I miss a portion of it. For instance, for the year 2014-15, $14.9 million was spent, $5 million of it at what is now the department of Global Affairs; another $5 million by the RCMP; $3 million at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; and $700,000 by CSEC.

Government Operations committee  That's a really good question, and the short answer is yes. You've talked about one initiative, and I'll give you another related initiative in terms of law enforcement agencies working together. That's the Regulatory Cooperation Council, which does not appear in these estimates, but has in previous estimates.

Government Operations committee  No. We wouldn't do that for privacy considerations.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  We will apply the privacy rules of the Government of Canada. It's my understanding that their names would not be published, unless they gave—

Government Operations committee  —yes, unless they gave consent. I'm not sure I can imagine a situation in which that would happen, but it might.

Government Operations committee  That's a really good question. The number one watcher for new technologies and their impact on Canadians is Michael Wernick, who is the Clerk of the Privy Council. Christine is laughing, because she gets it from him, too, I'm sure. He is probably one of the most tech-savvy leaders I have ever encountered.

Government Operations committee  The recommendations of the advisory board will be made to the Prime Minister for his consideration, and the decision is the prerogative of the Prime Minister.

Government Operations committee  That's my understanding.

Government Operations committee  I can't speak for the Senate. It is my understanding that any costs that are incurred by other departments with respect to Senate appointments would be absorbed within their existing budgets, and the only expenses that I could foresee would be security clearances. I think that would be easily absorbed into the security agency's ongoing work in security clearances.

Government Operations committee  I'm going to let Karen answer that question for you.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. The economic action plan grew out of the global economic crisis in 2009, as you're probably aware.

Government Operations committee  Yes. The government was getting feedback that people didn't know where to go to get information. We were hearing that loud and clear. It was a profound glimpse of the obvious idea to put it all in one place. My understanding is that the site was accessed by a lot by people. The government saw that it was successful and looked for ways to leverage that success within the rubric of the communications policy of the Government of Canada.

Government Operations committee  It's my understanding and I believe it's four additional FTEs who will be hired to support the work of the committee over the next five years. You can appreciate that in the first couple of years of the work, because it's a whole new process, they'll be pretty busy with that. Then as they get better at it and more efficient and regularize it, the workload will be less onerous.