Government Operations committee  We don't have an issue with attracting individuals. PCO is an employer of choice within the federal government. Our turnover is probably higher than that of some other departments, partly by the nature of what we do. It is certainly a dynamic organization. We hire some of the bes

Government Operations committee  I don't want to speak for the inquiry. I can't speak to what happens on their end between the time somebody requests the money and the time it's sent to us for approval. I can tell you that when we get it, we process it very quickly. Once a contribution agreement is signed, it

Government Operations committee  I can give you the details on the year that has closed. I cannot give you the details on the year that just ended, as those books have not closed yet.

Government Operations committee  It's about $1 million over the course of the year, and you can prorate that by month.

Government Operations committee  I apologize; I'm not familiar with that article. Certainly that wouldn't be the case as of today. Perhaps there was an up-front cost related to accommodation that we did on their behalf. That's the only thing I can think of. However, $2 million out of $5 million does not sound

Government Operations committee  In general, the process would be that the inquiry itself recommends an amount for each of the families. They send it to us with that recommendation. The Clerk of the Privy Council approves, and I sign the contribution agreement. From my recollection, it's never taken more than

Government Operations committee  I believe my predecessor addressed some of those at a previous committee appearance, but I would reiterate that our service standards are fairly quick when it comes to all the things you mentioned. Accommodation is probably the most complex, because there are a number of pieces

Government Operations committee  I do not have information on that.

Government Operations committee  That's right. That was in the budget after the departmental plan.

Government Operations committee  When we do a Treasury Board submission, we'll be asked for justification of the costs, which would be up to $1 million. I want to be clear that it could be a different amount that's lower than that. That is how it generally works with the Treasury Board. They'll challenge the cos

Government Operations committee  It's not uncommon for departments to have items that come in after the departmental plan is done, and those items still have outcomes that must be—

Government Operations committee  Outcomes still must be reported on, regardless. When we do our report at the end of the year, we will explain costs related to that, as we would do for any other costs that come up during the year. Using last year as a proxy, our amount in the main estimates was different from ou

Government Operations committee  That's because at the time of the departmental plan's writing, it was not approved in the federal budget. Therefore, it wasn't part of the plans.

Government Operations committee  The departmental plan was published around the same time, but the due date for signature—

Government Operations committee  It did. That's understood. However, the departmental plan was due to the Treasury Board sooner than that. As a result, it did not have unapproved budget items. I would imagine that would be the same for any federal department.