Government Operations committee  Yes, maybe the confusion rests on the fact that performance measures are contained within two sets of documents: one, the budget document pertinent to our discussion right now; two, in the annual reports, which are essentially the public accounts. Those documents are typically re

Government Operations committee  I can answer that, Mr. Chair. They are annual performance reports, as you indicate. There's been a change just recently to produce those a bit earlier. I believe that they come out, typically, in June now, as opposed to a little bit later in the year.

Government Operations committee  Certainly there are some performance measures indicated within the budget itself that square up with those displayed within the annual reports. Just so you know, the annual reports, of course, are the public accounts of Alberta, essentially. They're reviewed by a different comm

Government Operations committee  No, government private members also ask questions.

Government Operations committee  No, actually, I don't.

Government Operations committee  If I may supplement that answer, if I understand your question correctly—and I may not, and forgive me if I don't—I don't think there's any restriction in terms of not doing a thorough questioning of the budget within that policy field or committee supply consideration of the ind

Government Operations committee  I would assume they would do such a thing. It would stand to reason.

Government Operations committee  Yes, but the policy field committee consideration dates back to 2008-09 period, and those committees are all-party committees. Prior to that, my understanding is that it was the committee of supply, which of course is a committee of the whole house. Post 2008 you have had all-par

Government Operations committee  As Ms. Dean indicated, the estimates do contain that expenditure information. In addition, a projection of expenditures is indicated in the business plans and released at a separate time. But that is a different set of information altogether.

Government Operations committee  If I could just supplement that, performance reporting is a very important aspect of the different ministries' annual reports. That performance reporting is reviewed on a systematic basis by the public accounts committee.

Government Operations committee  Unlike other jurisdictions, there is no legislative committee that does pre-budget consultations, like in Ontario. Here in Alberta, I think what Ms. Dean is saying is that the ministry may or may not do that sort of consultation, but we are not in a position to comment on behalf