Government Operations committee  Certainly the presentation of the budget, the estimates, and the approprials in advance of the financial year is a good idea. Certainly the way in which all government expenditure has been covered in the estimates and opened up for examination was a big change, and it's a change

Government Operations committee  Usually, yes. The Senate is elected under a system of proportional representation. Usually no party has a majority. Things have to be done by cooperation among parties or different parties coming together. That's been the situation over many years. As a result, this process that

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is worth getting up early in the morning for. Greetings to Bob Marleau.

Government Operations committee  Well, basically, it's not up to the executive; it's up to the Senate, and the processes the Senate goes through are determined by the Senate. While the government may have a view on them and may influence the changes that are made, basically it's up to the Senate. The whole syste

Government Operations committee  No, it hasn't changed the date, not for decades anyway, on which the financial year starts. But originally we had a rather crazy system whereby the appropriation bills were not introduced until after the start of the financial year. Supply bills were introduced to deal with the f

Government Operations committee  I wouldn't basically change the system that we have now. I think it could be made more efficient by senators making more use of the process of signalling to departments in advance what they're going to ask about and by the research staff briefing senators more thoroughly. Senato

Government Operations committee  As I said before, it can be a very partisan process. Things that are highly controversial are often subject to very partisan questioning. You often get disorderly events in committees, in which non-government senators are seeking to expose the failings of particular projects and

Government Operations committee  They may do so, but they don't have to. They can signal their areas of interest in writing, or they can just get the committee staff to ring up departments and say they'd better bring the people who understand this because there are going to be questions about it, but they don't

Government Operations committee  The theory is that the supplementary estimates, under the rules of the Senate, are confined to matters that senators signal for further questioning and matters arising from the written answers to questions taken on notice. However, in recent times, senators' notification of matte

Government Operations committee  Yes, absolutely, and things that have arisen since the main estimates--some programs that are in trouble or something.

Government Operations committee  A small department may have a couple of hours. A big department, or a department with big problems, may take five hours, six hours, something like that.

Government Operations committee  The Senate ministers stay for 99% of the hearing. Sometimes ministers have difficulties and they absent themselves, but basically they stay for all the hearings.

Government Operations committee  Yes. The finance and public administration committee has the particular responsibility of looking at the whole estimates process and the appropriation process, and over the years it has made recommendations for improving the process, particularly recommendations in relation to e

Government Operations committee  Yes. The estimates cover both what is in the appropriation bills and all the other expenditures that the departments make under other appropriations. All those estimates are open for examination at the hearings.

Government Operations committee  No. What you have before you in May are the estimates contained in the main appropriation bills, but you also have the estimates of expenditure in all other statutes the departments are operating under. All those standing or special appropriations are elaborated in those explan