Government Operations committee  In terms of the resources required, it really would depend on what changes are being contemplated. We've mentioned a few here—to actually do a better job of connecting the various documents and simplifying the documents, not much at all; to build a crosswalk, not much at all. If you were thinking about changing a vote structure, that's more of a time requirement, and yes, there would be some resources involved.

Government Operations committee  Again, Chair, it depends on the nature of the changes how long it would take to make some of these more minor changes. We make changes and improvements, we hope, from one set of supplementary estimates to the next. For the horizontal items that's easily done. If you are thinking about a change from cash to accrual appropriations, you're probably looking at close to seven years.

Government Operations committee  From my perspective, Chair, changing the fiscal year does absolutely no good whatsoever, and it may actually cause other people some stress. But the issue here is the link between the budget and the estimates, and in my opinion that is not impacted by the fiscal year. So that's the issue we have.

Government Operations committee  No, if you're thinking about the content of the reports on plans and priorities and departmental performance reports, there is guidance given to departments in terms of what to include in there. As Sally mentioned, we've added horizontal items into the estimates document. If you do see a large horizontal theme, we have tried to include it in the estimates so it's easier to follow.

Government Operations committee  One of the things that can be done when you look at strategic outcomes.... As we've said, there are 300 or 298 there and there are over 2,000 programs. When you look at the departmental documentation, the report on plans and priorities, you'll see the dollar value attached to these.

Government Operations committee  “Considerations” is probably a better word than “consequences”, but I did say “consequences”. The consequences are around the time—number one—and the cost attached to making some of these changes. Just to make sure, if you were to move to a new vote structure, for instance, there would be time and effort and cost required to make that change.

Government Operations committee  There the considerations are more around the time between the two documents. The main estimates need to be tabled by a certain date. There is flexibility in terms of when the budget can be produced. It can be any time. As long as there is flexibility on when and where this crosswalk could be tabled—it could be part of the estimates document or it could be part of a budget document—I don't think there's that much effort involved to actually do that.

Government Operations committee  In terms of making documents more accessible that are online, if you're looking for a website that actually links together the documents, that is something we should be striving to improve. Open data will certainly help that. If you think about the various documents that are included in the cycle, you have the budget, the estimates, the departmental reports on plans and priorities, and the departmental performance reports.

Government Operations committee  Thank you. There are a couple of things. The one I would highlight is the role of the Treasury Board itself, which actually has responsibility for expenditure approvals. If you think about a new initiative that gets included in the budget, that's done at a certain level. Before that spending can actually be achieved by a department, it needs to actually go to a cabinet committee, Treasury Board, and get approved with details on the expenditure plan.

Government Operations committee  No, I would say that's an area where there could be some improvements made in terms of building a crosswalk between the main estimates and the budget, because there is clearly a link between the numbers. There is no such crosswalk at the moment to actually show that the numbers in the budget are reconcilable with what's in the main estimates.

Government Operations committee  To conclude, I think there are a couple of points I'd like to highlight. I've already mentioned this, but I will again. Some of these changes that are being contemplated are of significance, so do keep that in mind when you're forming your recommendations. The other one I would like to touch on is the reporting burden.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are pleased to be here today. As you mentioned, I have some colleagues with me. We have been following this study with great interest. The witnesses you have lined up have been quite impressive in terms of their backgrounds. You will have noted, I'm sure, that you have quite a variety of opinions in terms of how you should proceed.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  Well, AECL did not have enough funds to operate.

Government Operations committee  Vote 5, government contingencies, is basically for unforeseen circumstances that a department or organization cannot fund itself and cannot wait for the next estimate cycle.