Government Operations committee  We do. It's part of our mandate. Our mandate extends to all federal institutions, so it's quite broad in that sense. To the other part of your question, on how we would calculate that, I'd have to look specifically at the details of the transaction. It's a financial transaction.

Government Operations committee  I don't think there were that many restrictions imposed on corporations, banks or otherwise, when receiving financial assistance, loans or grants from the government. I'm not aware that there were that many restrictions, if any at all, compared to other jurisdictions that did impose some more stringent requirements.

Government Operations committee  That certainly raises questions as to the need for government subsidies in the first place, if a corporation turns around and pays a dividend.

Government Operations committee  Unfortunately, I can't be of much use to you on that, because my mandate is to look at the cost of the proposed measures, not at awarding contracts. I would like to be able to help you, but that unfortunately goes beyond my mandate. However, the amounts are very significant, and I understand your concerns under the circumstances.

Government Operations committee  This will certainly be considered by the people participating in the discussions. It's not for me to judge whether it should be considered or not. These discussions are eminently political and many other issues come into play.

Government Operations committee  Yes, and I don't think anyone has questioned that. In the Fiscal Sustainability Report 2020, our analysis is based on a 75-year horizon. The immediate expenditures for COVID-19 are for one year of 75. Although there is no common measure between this spending and what we have seen in the past, the expenditures are still for one year.

Government Operations committee  That's a good point. Demographics is probably one of the two most important factors, the other being productivity growth. In the federal system, demographics generate a lot of differences, particularly through equalization and the structure of transfers, since they depend largely on population.

Government Operations committee  There's a lot of information in the GC InfoBase, but I haven't looked very carefully at every line. So I can't certify that the site contains data for every program related to COVID-19. Ms. Giswold and Mr. Stanton may be aware of it. I wouldn't want to bet my paycheque on it. That said, as I mentioned, the site does have information on maximum financial authorities for programs.

Government Operations committee  Our monitoring tool has cost estimates that are independent of those of the government. Based on discussions we have had with a number of people in the public service, because programs have often been announced quickly—and rightly so— the cost estimates have not been as rigorous as we might have expected under normal circumstances.

Government Operations committee  The government has updated its debt-management strategy as part of the fall economic statement. They're looking for amendments to the Borrowing Authority Act, pushing the limit, proposing a maximum borrowing amount of $1.8 trillion, if I'm not mistaken: $1,831 billion.

Government Operations committee  The issue was that we asked for detailed information on federal employees to determine the cost of the federal legislation with respect to pay equity. We were told that the information would not be provided to us because it was a cabinet confidence. It was probably included in a memorandum to cabinet or a Treasury Board submission and was therefore a cabinet confidence.

Government Operations committee  No. These days, $600 million seems like a small amount when we're talking about dozens of billions, but you're right; that was a bit surprising. That type of data is not what you typically expect to be covered in cabinet secrecy.

Government Operations committee  Yes, if we consider the provinces as a whole, they are not sustainable in the very long term, whereas the federal government is sustainable over the same long period. This does seem to suggest that it was appropriate for the federal government to support the majority of the efforts on COVID-19, given the different financial capacities of the two levels of government.

Government Operations committee  That depends, because the government indicated in the economic statement that it will look at indicators related to the labour market, but some of these indicators, like the employment rate, may never come back to pre-pandemic levels. Because of an aging population, the share of adults working will probably be on a downward trend as people get older.

Government Operations committee  It depends on the pace of development and rollout of a vaccine and treatments, on whether we have a third wave or not, and how confident and secure Canadians will be when this is over. If they feel totally confident to resume their daily lives, we may not need much stimulus, but if people are still concerned and worried and feel unsafe, we may need a bigger stimulus.