Justice committee  There was a period of time in federal budget management where a significant amount of grants and contributions were put on a five-year sunsetting renewal—this goes back some time—as a way of trying to control and regularly review expenses. What it does lead to is these ups and do

Justice committee  Your point is exactly right in terms of what must be included in the estimates.

Justice committee  I would agree absolutely that the fairest comparison would be, on one level, main estimates to main estimates, and perhaps another comparison would be estimates to date, assuming that we understand what estimates to date are. A point is made in that paragraph as well about net v

Justice committee  Net voting authority is an authorization we have from Treasury Board for a portion of the legal services we provide to other government departments on a cost recovery basis. We have a base which is appropriated to us, and we also have authority to provide legal services to client

Justice committee  That's right.

Justice committee  Thank you for the question. Mr. Chair, it's true that there hasn't been a large increase in the federal contribution in this area, but $120 million will nevertheless be set aside for legal aid in this year's main estimates. That includes $11.5 million in temporary funding for le

Justice committee  Thank you for the question. Your question, which concerns Parliament's budget management methods, is too broad for a poor deputy minister like myself to answer. For now, the amount set out in the budget is $694 million. You can see in the estimates that we have spent $119 millio

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  We are talking about $108 million on a permanent and ongoing basis and, as it was just mentioned, those are supplementary estimates that have been approved. All planned expenditures have to be approved by the Treasury Board before the money is spent, so that we can be accountable

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  There are about 5,000 employees across Canada, and 330 positions will be cut. So far, 95 people have decided to retire, go back to school or leave the public service. An attempt was made to find 130 employees another position elsewhere in the public service. Some positions have b

Justice committee  I'm not really in a position to speak to it in detail. As you know, under the Judges Act the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs was established to ensure judicial independence from the executive in the administration of its affairs. It has a number of responsibilities, i

Justice committee  No. Regardless of the supplementary estimates in question, (A), (B) or (C), the department operates on a cost-recovery basis when it provides other departments with legal advice or court representation during proceedings. So it's included in the department's spending. The minist

Justice committee  Very well. I will be here as well. We'll have another opportunity to discuss these issues.

Justice committee  No. We'll get back to you.