Government Operations committee  What we're putting in place is an ongoing system where we're constantly looking for those savings.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much, honourable member, for the question. I'd have to defer that question to Rideau Hall, as the office of protocol is not involved in the Governor General's domestic travel.

Government Operations committee  You make reference to costs attributed to the stop in Abu Dhabi. At the time the visit was first being planned and accounts were being set up within our SAP accounting system, a stop in Abu Dhabi had been envisaged in order to meet the president of the UAE. When the final program

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much for the question, honourable member. It allows me to clarify that precisely. In an effort to reduce costs for communication and to keep our team and our principals connected to Canada and each other during a visit, one of the tools we use is called mobile puc

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much for the question. I think it gives me the opportunity to clarify a little bit the reference to special requests. In our past appearance before the committee, we discussed the process whereby menus were chosen by the general's team and my team for various legs

Government Operations committee  The important thing to remember is that the Governor General is being asked, on behalf of the government, to achieve important foreign policy objectives by international travel. The amounts for any given visit can range quite considerably depending on the locations visited, the c

Government Operations committee  I am happy to take the question. The question is whether all members of the delegation or the staff travelling are subject to ATIPs. All public servants in our ministry—and I would not speak for other ministries because there may be security implications or other reasons—all pro

Government Operations committee  Thank you to the honourable member. As Ms. MacIntyre has indicated, our standard practice currently is to proactively release all of the spending per visit for every visit undertaken abroad by, and paid for by, the office of protocol. It does have a breakdown so that you can see

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much for the question. Yes. When all of the final invoices come in from the various Canadian missions abroad, from the various suppliers and contractors, and are paid by our office or by other ministries that are involved in the delivery of a visit, those are then

Government Operations committee  The important thing is that we all have a duty as public servants to ensure sound and transparent management of public funds. When we take on a new position and manage budgets, it's incumbent upon all of us to do that review. Yes, I would hope that we would have identified such e

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the honourable member for the question. I can tell you that the office of protocol is committed to transparency and the sound management of funds, and everything that we spend for high-level visits is regularly released through pu

Government Operations committee  People on preparatory trips travel with standard commercial airlines and follow all Treasury Board guidelines.

Government Operations committee  Based on the trip and travel, we follow Treasury Board guidelines. In some cases, if the trip takes a certain number of hours and it's necessary for them to work upon arrival, people may travel in business class. It's not always the case, however. It depends on ticket availabil

Government Operations committee  For the longer legs of the trip, such as Toronto-Qatar, people would normally have travelled in business class. I can't speak for some of the people who are not from my office.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your question. That is now an important part of what we do. The working group met several times during the summer before our appearance in September, to look at factors, among other things. After that, I couldn't tell you how many times it's met specifically, but I