Government Operations committee  You say “accounting changes”. What that doesn't mean is a change in accounting standards. These are still subject to the Auditor General.... It's just the way. It's a methodology for taking a number from the budget and putting it in estimates as a statutory estimate of the public

Government Operations committee  The $2.9 billion is the number in—

Government Operations committee  No, the decreases are on the statutory side, you're right. There's about a $2 billion net decrease in statutory spending, which offsets the increase in voted spending. These are not unusual in size. We see these fluctuations all the time in the statutory estimates. I think in s

Government Operations committee  Right.

Government Operations committee  There's an extension of new offices, if I'm not mistaken. We have a network now of 14 across Canada, and there are two more offices opening up in Whitehorse and Yellowknife.

Government Operations committee  Two more regional ones, yes.

Government Operations committee  There may be some other costs in there, too, for the operations of the other offices, but that's primarily it, as far as we know.

Government Operations committee  I don't think there's any real change--

Government Operations committee  Okay. I think the change here really resulted from the Jobs and Economic Growth Act, which changed the way the EI account works. We were replacing the old EI account with a new EI account, and interest is no longer paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. So that had offset befor

Government Operations committee  I'm pretty sure I can speak for my colleague here. We would not know that level of detail, why that particular office was shut down, but I would be happy to take the question back to CBSA and ask them to respond to you. But we don't have that information. It's a good question,

Government Operations committee  Well, that's an interesting suggestion, but I guess it's too late now.

Government Operations committee  These decisions, of course, are taken by the minister responsible and the deputy responsible for the agency, and they have to rationalize their operations continually. I think they're the only ones who could respond to your question as to why they made certain decisions and why t

Government Operations committee  Vote 5, yes.

Government Operations committee  I would mention that this contingency vote, Treasury Board vote 5, is a $750 million vote that is replenished. It's like a credit card, in a sense. It's an advance for departments that require it for unforeseen needs. It gives them the cash to manage in the short term and to repl

Government Operations committee  It has vote wording that governs its use, and we use it in as limited a way as we possibly can. There are always going to be certain contingencies: fires, floods, and all kinds of reasons why departments need short-term infusions of cash. They replace the funding at the next avai