Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, those who can take advantage of the capital vote are those that have a distinct and separate capital vote. Those that have capital under $5 million, for example, embedded in their operating vote are limited to 5%.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The departments are set in their votes by the main estimates and by the allocations and the authorities that are provided to them, either through statute or by authorities established by the Treasury Board. Once those are set, they can only move money around from one vote to another by coming to the Treasury Board for approval.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. We have taken a number of measures to reduce, for example, the number of connection points to the Internet. This is across the government. We have in fact streamlined and solidified those connecting points. We have also established a greater number of monitors that are essentially technical monitors that allow us to detect any elements of penetration or attempts at doing so.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I'll take a stab at that, and then if I'm not successful I'll turn to Bill Matthews. A number of the votes that we request in terms of main estimates are central votes. They're attributed to the Treasury Board Secretariat, but they are actually expended by other organizations.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Minister. I believe you're referring to a program called consulting and audit Canada. Is that correct? If that is indeed the case, it is an organization or a group—and my colleagues from public works would be in a better position to respond to you—that offers audit services on a price point basis.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Minister. The Governor General's special warrants are used and applied only when Parliament is dissolved for the purpose of an election and supply or appropriations have not been voted. They have to be used or they have to be put forward if there is a requirement or an obligation on the part of the government in the public interest, and a minister has to attest to the fact that they are, indeed, required.

Government Operations committee  In terms of the improvements to the...?

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the issue of cyber security, we have in fact strengthened our networks across the government. There have been some funds allocated by the government to enhance our capacity and our security posture. With regard to the secretariat, we have in fact had a fairly significant data migration plan, and I think we can ensure the security of data that is held by the Government of Canada for Canadians.

Public Accounts committee  With your permission, Mr. Chair, I'd like to add something. With regard to the commitment that we've made, we created and implemented a consultation network that brings together more than 30 or 40 departments and agencies represented around the table. There are regular discussions on these issues, which take place three, four or five times a year.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to mention three things. First of all, at the end of that paragraph, it also says that the new policy will deal with questions that will be clarified because they were raised since the implementation of the current code. As I explained, we are still discussing two or three issues with our legal counsel.

Public Accounts committee  First of all, the committee hearing started at 11 o'clock and not at 10 o'clock. Moreover, we amended the document because we wanted to be in a position to give you a date. We said that it would be in spring because we were not certain that we could achieve this by March. In order to avoid choosing a date that we were not necessarily in a position to confirm, we agreed on spring 2011.

Public Accounts committee  Briefly. I've actually just handed over to the Auditor General the changes that we have made to the values and ethics line of evidence, as we call it, in the management accountability framework for 2010-11, which takes up the recommendations that were made in her report, to make sure that we ask specifically what departments have put in place in order to deal with conflicts of interest.

Public Accounts committee  We would be quite happy to do so.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.