Government Operations committee  Unfortunately, Mr. Chair, I'm not in a position to speak about the advice that we provide to ministers at the Privy Council Office.

Government Operations committee  Let me talk a bit about what PCO's role is in advertising, because I worry sometimes that PCO's role sounds a bit murky when we say that we provide advice to the Prime Minister, coordinate cabinet committee meetings, and support the clerk in her role as the head of the public service.

Government Operations committee  I would characterize it as a continuation of funding, as opposed to an increase per se. The continuation of funding for three years—because this is a sunsetter program, and we have funding contingent for three years as per the supplementary estimates (C)—is a sign of the success of the work that is being done.

Government Operations committee  I am not an expert on regulatory sectors, but I have had some experience with complexity. One of the other members of the committee asked about the pre-clearance agreement under the Beyond the Border action plan, which was a bit of a counterpart to the Regulatory Cooperation Council, where stakeholders also rightly have high expectations about progress.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I think I can be helpful on that, and I'll try to be concise as I give you my explanation. I may run out of time in getting to all your questions, so let me start. PCO's role in government advertising and public opinion research and media monitoring is set out in the communications policy, which is one of the policies from the Treasury Board suite of policies.

Government Operations committee  I can't speak directly to your question but I do have some context that may be helpful to you, so let me take a stab at that. As I said, the work of the RCC started in December 2011. It started because there was a fair amount of common ground between the two countries in having highly evolved regulatory systems.

Government Operations committee  I don't have that with me here today. In the past they have reported at least a couple of times a year. In the fall there's usually a report because they usually have a big stakeholders' meeting where everybody comes together, and then again in the course of the summer. That's my understanding, and that pattern will probably continue.

Government Operations committee  Thank you.

Government Operations committee  You're right in saying that the government attaches a lot of importance to this program. Of course, the preclearance agreement that was just signed and announced is a historic agreement for both countries. That's why the government, in Budget 2015, signalled the continuation of funding available for this sunsetter initiative.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I'd be happy to try to help. What I'm going to do is to talk about PCO's role and the function that we fulfill out of the RCC, the regulatory cooperation council. The RCC was created in December, 2011, falling out of the agreement that was signed by the Prime Minister and the American President at the same time they signed the Beyond the Border action plan.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. The budget for the Prime Minister's Office and how much the Prime Minister's Office has spent on personnel is reported annually in the public accounts, which are published, generally speaking, in the fall. I believe that those numbers—and Karen may have the details on those—have remained fairly constant over the last four years.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, the increase is related to Blueprint 2020. Last year, in May 2014, the then Clerk of the Privy Council, Wayne Wouters, in his Destination 2020 report, which is very much supported by the new Clerk of the Privy Council, Madam Janice Charette, announced several initiatives to respond to the Blueprint 2020 plan.

Government Operations committee  That's a great question. The increase is mainly related to salaries for public servants who are working at the Privy Council Office. We're using a mix of temporary secondments and assignments, with a few full-time positions. There will be other costs that will include professional and special services and a bit of travelling.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I'm going to ask Ms. Cahill to answer that one for you.

Government Operations committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you very much for inviting us to speak to you today. The chair has introduced Karen and me. It's our pleasure to appear before you today to answer your questions on the 2015-16 main estimates for the Privy Council Office as well as its report on plans and priorities for the same fiscal year.