Government Operations committee  Again, I think you have to separate the body of the main estimates document from the appropriation bill. The appropriation bill is the legal document that you vote on, and that's the one that determines what the government can and cannot do. If the appropriation bill does not ma

Government Operations committee  There has to be a reference in vote 40 to that table specifically. That's what you're voting on. You're voting that this $7 billion is attached to that table. Otherwise, from what we have heard from the experts, that would not be binding.

Government Operations committee  I don't really know that. We raised the same issue with the Department of Finance. They could not really provide an answer to us as to why the information is confidential. Our obligation is that if we receive confidential information, we have to keep it confidential, so unfortun

Government Operations committee  Obviously, some of that description has to come through the budget process and the budget plan.

Government Operations committee  I assume the government explained exactly what the objective of those—

Government Operations committee  Certainly, the more information is provided to parliamentarians, the better it is. That's a given. If you are asking me if—

Government Operations committee  If you're asking me whether the government has to spend the money on that specific topic or not, that's not something I can comment on. That's a policy issue.

Government Operations committee  Again, that's something you have to decide. I can't really tell you whether there is enough information there for you or not.

Government Operations committee  Certainly. That's why we have raised the issue that we don't see these measures in the departmental plans. I have every confidence that after these are approved, in next year's departmental reports the departments will talk about and show the results of the funding they received.

Government Operations committee  We received some detailed information from the finance department, but they stamped that “confidential”, so we cannot share it with you.

Government Operations committee  What they have done is integrate their estimate process with their budget process. The spending measures that are going to be in the budget have already been seen by their treasury board, and they are doing their due diligence ahead of the budget. Once a measure is announced in t

Government Operations committee  It takes place on all the expenditures that have to be approved by the Treasury Board, yes.

Government Operations committee  Well, that's what I was mentioning. If that process starts earlier, the Treasury Board is aware of the spending measures in the budget and can coordinate that with the Department of Finance, and they can then finish the due diligence process earlier so we can see those in the bud

Government Operations committee  No, we have not seen the table. We do not know how the department wants to report the expenditures.

Government Operations committee  There's a template they have for it.