Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm very pleased to begin, since I have many good things to tell you, especially on issues of concern to you. First, I would like to thank the committee for inviting me today to discuss supplementary estimates (B) 2019-20. As you said, this is the first ti

Government Operations committee  Thank you so much for this opportunity to provide a—

Government Operations committee  No, I would never blame Minister Brison because first, he is such a nice person and a professional member of Parliament that you have had the opportunity to know far better and for longer than I did. Unfortunately I only came here in 2015, so I missed much of his career—

Government Operations committee  As you will know as an experienced member of Parliament, these votes are central votes and vote 10 is particular, it's for whole-of-government initiatives, which are of course a challenge for the efficiency and the equity of government expenditures because they involve many depar

Government Operations committee  There are three different things. First, as we were saying, these central votes exist to make sure Canadians get the best impact out of the investments made by the government. As I said, vote 10 in particular is there to facilitate that in the situation of a complex environment.

Government Operations committee  What we certainly will see—and need to see, as you are correctly stating—is as much transparency as parliamentarians need and deserve. In that context, parliamentarians will want and need to understand the evolution of these expenditures from year to year. We all understand that

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Drouin. By the way, I would like to acknowledge your important work once again. Here, the key words are “effectiveness” and “transparency”. As we know very well, there is a problem that goes back to the beginning of Confederation, I believe. It is a pro

Government Operations committee  Mr. Drouin, thank you for these relevant and well-informed questions. As everyone knows, in the first year of the pilot project, vote 40 was used to enable committee members and parliamentarians to find out the results of the reconciliation between the budget process and the est

Government Operations committee  Thank you, that is a very relevant question.

Government Operations committee  How much time do I have?

Government Operations committee  I will say two things quickly. Yesterday, I met with representatives of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to explain to them what we are currently doing in that area and what we will continue to do with them. There is an external committee and a new policy on regulations. We have

Government Operations committee  As you said so well, Mrs. Vignola, this vote is part of central votes. Vote 10 enables various agencies, including the Canada Revenue Agency, to work with other agencies or other departments to generate in the most effective and transparent ways possible initiatives whose costs a

Government Operations committee  I can yield the floor to Mr. Purves, who knows much more about this than I do. It is incorrect to say that vote 10 will focus on a single agency from now on. Since the Confederation—so for 153 years—that vote has been used for a number of purposes that have varied over the years

Government Operations committee  The central vote framework is government-wide, as in the case of vote 10, but it is sometimes based on the need to respond quickly to crises or to financial requests that cannot be predicted from the outset. That is important. We see what is currently happening with coronavirus.

Government Operations committee  This is an excellent question, which you will also want to take up with the Minister of Employment who would be most happy to provide the details that you are entitled to receive. We are very proud of this law, which was passed in 2018. We know that a fair Canada—