Government Operations committee  They will be, if the commitment is followed, and if the amounts that you see in table A2.11, which is in the appendix of the main estimates but is not included in the vote.... This is the main problem that we identify—

Government Operations committee  That is why if you can see it in your own vote 40, or the supply bill, being included annually, you will have this kind of alignment with the budget and you would be able to see it, which is what I said in French. Knowing it is something, and you certainly trust the minister, the President of the Treasury Board, but seeing it is imperative for a vote by parliamentarians.

Government Operations committee  It's certainly an improvement that they will have to come up with in the future. Mostafa, do you want to add something?

Government Operations committee  That's the burning question. In their article, Mr. DeVries and Mr. Clark refer to Australia's budget. That's actually the one the President of the Treasury Board uses as a model. He has always used it. He has always said so, and we have always supported his approach. In this particular case, they are referring to the future, to a better world, although this one is not so bad.

Government Operations committee  In Quebec and Ontario, parliamentary committees do this before the budget is announced. They have clearly had discussions beforehand. Subsequently, the budget is completed to reflect that. As I said, we have always supported the comments of the President of the Treasury Board, Minister Brison, if he really wants to align it with Australia's model.

Government Operations committee  For this year, we have a transition budget. It is important to understand that we are divorcing or separating from the Library of Parliament. A divorce can be expensive.

Government Operations committee  Let me go back to what I said earlier. We saw the expenditure table when the budget was announced in February. The Minister of Finance and the President of the Treasury Board have announced that this will ensure that the federal budget measures announced in February will be more in line with the main estimates.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. As per your committee order of reference related to vote 1 under the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer's main estimates for 2018-19, I am glad to report that our estimates have been considered by the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons, who conducted their thorough due diligence.

Government Operations committee  We could do it at any point, once we see that the news or the interpretation of our documents will be more or less distorted.

Government Operations committee  We have met twice since the legislation was adopted. The Elections Canada representatives said they understood very well that we were in a situation that is sometimes unsustainable, especially if the information we are revealing starts to be manipulated. They said they cannot do anything about that.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your question. I talked a bit about preparation. We are already trying to see how quickly we could assess some of the costs presented to us. For example, budgetary measures will be used as the first step to check how we are operating. We could see how we can proceed within the office.

Government Operations committee  Yes, it would be a written notice from the requester. You have participated in election campaigns and know very well how it works.

Government Operations committee  You have put your finger on it. In its publication, a party may say, for example, that the PBO assessed their measure at $1 billion, that the party is happy and that the situation is good for all Canadians. However, I won't to be able to make that information public on my side.

Government Operations committee  For now this is where we are.

Government Operations committee  Many different attempts were made in past years with National Defence. Last year, with the previous deputy minister, we had an agreement to meet on a regular basis every two weeks, officials to officials, to clarify it. One problem with DND is that sometimes we go there and they have the information in front of them; then, the week after, when we make—because we have to follow the process of sending a letter to the minister....