Government Operations committee  It's ultimately the minister who recommends the appointment. So, with respect to the point at which the minister's office should be involved in the process, it seems logical to me that that should take into account the fact that it is the minister who ultimately recommends the appointment.

Government Operations committee  Yes, the churn is enormous.

Government Operations committee  No. The money would be transferred. The whole way it was set up when the order in council was passed, establishing the secretariat as well as the commission, the whole notion was to have that secretariat support the commission as an independent body. It was established that way; it was set up that way.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question, Madam Chair. The Clerk of the Privy Council just yesterday issued his fifteenth report to the Prime Minister on the state of the public service, and the notions advanced in that report, which also includes the report of the Prime Minister's advisory committee--Mr.

Government Operations committee  With the establishment of the commission, the secretariat would be a stand-alone department. When the commission was established, first of all administratively, by order in council, the secretariat was established as a full-blown, stand-alone independent department, exactly for the reasons you mentioned, namely, to ensure that support for the commission comes from its own entity and not from a secretariat attached to any other entity.

Government Operations committee  Yes, I understand. It's not obvious when there's a secretariat supporting a commission that doesn't exist yet. But the scope of the work is enormous. We're talking about more than 3,000 positions, from members of the freshwater fish marketing board to Canada Post to major crown corporations, quasi-judicial tribunals, and international organizations.

Government Operations committee  Yes, it was working on it. The staff started with two, went up to four, and then gradually went down to zero. Then we staffed it back up again.

Government Operations committee  First of all, the headline says one thing, but the quote you gave from Mr. Poilievre is slightly different. Mr. Poilievre—don't quote me, I'm just going on the basis of what you just said—is talking about appointing people who are ready to implement the government's agenda. When there's a transition in government, especially after a long period of time, it's not surprising that an incoming government has a certain tack it wants to take—an agenda, a program, a Speech from the Throne—and that it expects some of the commissions to move forward in line with that agenda.

Government Operations committee  I'm not aware of the specific file concerning the sale of the buildings. That's not at all my field.

Government Operations committee  Once again, it's physically impossible for an agency such as the Privy Council Office, which has fewer than 1,000 employees, to micromanage all files across government. That wouldn't be a good way to do it. Its role instead is to coordinate everything and to warn the Prime Minsiter when problems must be brought to his attention.

Government Operations committee  Partly, yes.

Government Operations committee  It would be impossible for us to do that for all the government's activities. The dilemma of a central agency is that all government initiatives that must have cabinet approval go through the Privy Council Office because it is the secretariat to cabinet and its committees. That's all the major activities of government.

Government Operations committee  The departments take the measures required to implement cabinet's decisions. The Privy Council Office, as a central agency, ensures that that is done. We ask where the programs stand and at what point they will be implemented, and we ensure that there is indeed interdepartmental coordination.

Government Operations committee  The selection processes that you would run for these positions would not be identical, because it's very different for the chairperson or the CEO of Canada Post from what it is for a part-time position that participates in four meetings a year with a $150 per diem. You have to scope out exactly what kinds of selection processes would be considered acceptable for all these different types of positions.

Government Operations committee  First, we start with the throne speech, which establishes the government's agenda. The role of the Privy Council Office is to ensure that the public service as a whole prepares, for the ministers, the work that must be done to carry out the initiatives and programs. The Privy Council Office plays a coordinating role because these initiatives often require the contributions of a number of departments.