Government Operations committee  Having it at PCO does not necessarily automatically mean that we get better policy research. What counts is that you have the right program with the right governance and the involvement of the right people around that governance. As I mentioned before, there's a board of deputy ministers that now helps guide the policy research initiative such that it is investing its resources in the right kinds of research areas.

Government Operations committee  It was created a number of years ago to provide a space where public servants can talk about public policy trends, look at the future, bring people from other levels of government and other countries together to have discussions on things like, let's say, aging of the population, equality, diversity--big social trends, as well as some economic, even issues of water management.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  There was a special secretariat created a couple of years ago by the previous government to ensure, again, coordination of an aboriginal agenda. There are dozens of departments and agencies that contribute to the government's aboriginal agenda, INAC being the biggest one, but there are many others.

Government Operations committee  The organization that was transferred is called the policy research initiative.

Government Operations committee  There are no guarantees, but we can certainly say that time will allow us to meet this challenge. However, we are no more scared of this challenge than of any other. Canadian society as a whole must face such a challenge. I recently took part in work in this area along with my international counterparts, and I noted that we are all facing similar challenges.

Government Operations committee  Well, I'm not a member of the committee, so I can't tell you from my own experience, but certainly I think it is a mix of all. Those committees need to look into the future, to look at the needs not just for today or tomorrow but for 10 years, 15 years, into the future of the country.

Government Operations committee  The expected time period for this activity was one year. So this was part of last year's budget. The project is now completed, and the votes are no longer required.

Government Operations committee  Improvements are really the result of continuous work, initiatives for example such as the one you mentioned called the La Relève task force. Yes, many goods things came out of programs in order to train the next generation; I talked a little bit about this earlier. The Accelerated Executive Development Program is another one of them.

Government Operations committee  I don't have any details about this. Perhaps the public service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada would have answers. As you say, there are costs associated with training.

Government Operations committee  These are special credits that had been granted for a one-year period, and which were to be used to conduct polls or studies by Statistics Canada. This was set up as a one-time investment. So, this is represented as a decrease, since these funds are no longer required but it is not a decrease in activities.

Government Operations committee  It's mostly to work in a coordinated way on developing the options and the policy recommendations the government will then look at from an executive perspective.

Government Operations committee  One of the fundamental roles of the public service is to develop policies, proposals, and options and analyze them and make recommendations to the government of the day.

Government Operations committee  You will have access to it at the point where the government decides it wants to put forward a proposal to Parliament. For example, a piece of legislation is tabled in the House.

Government Operations committee  A number of committees fall under the umbrella of what's called a coordinating committee of deputy ministers. That's the overall committee chaired by the Clerk of the Privy Council, and then you have a series of committees that each have a specific function. I can talk a bit about that if you want and I'll try to do it as quickly as possible.