Government Operations committee  I don't believe that's in our estimates, sir.

Government Operations committee  Because there are inflationary pressures.

Government Operations committee  No, there isn't any situation I can think of where we leave a lease unless there is an extremely serious health situation before the lease has expired.

Government Operations committee  You'd have to ask Canada Post, I'm sorry.

Government Operations committee  I don't think those infrastructure projects on that page refer to assets of PWGSC. I don't have that page in front of me, I'm sorry.

Government Operations committee  I don't know which item you're referring to, je m'excuse.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, in this section of the estimates we're referring to inflationary pressure, price pressures, and volume pressures. If we have a situation where a lease has expired and we're replacing it, even if we stay in the same site, there is often an increase related to that, base

Government Operations committee  Those are the assets and investments of the Department of Transport, who I think would be best able to answer those questions.

Government Operations committee  No, none of it is a surprise. As I said earlier in my remarks, this in fact refers to costs that we've already incurred in the inventory. We're required to give evidence that the costs in fact are increasing.

Government Operations committee  If I could, I'll answer that question, Mr. Chair. We do plan for them. In our ongoing base for the department's real estate funding, we project out, as long as the leases are in our inventory, what the costs will be on an annual basis. At the time we enter into the lease, we de

Government Operations committee  That's true. It's not just increased rental rates. It's talking about the increased volume of maintenance costs, the increased volume of hydro being used, the increased volume of the different utilities as a result of perhaps the change in use of the space by the tenants. It's th

Government Operations committee  No, on our base real estate inventory we spend almost $2.5 billion a year. This is $64 million of increased difference. It's a percentage that reflects what's happening in the economy today.

Government Operations committee  I'll ask my colleague, John McBain, to address that for you. Thank you.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, the inflationary pressure increases that we are seeking in supplementary estimates are in fact related to fiscal year 2007-08. In the past we were required to justify all of those increases negotiated with Treasury Board. We had to determine an affordable amount for th

Government Operations committee  They are expected. They are planned and, as I said, in terms of our inflationary increases, they are based upon the expenses that we incurred in the previous years and on what we expect the impact will be in many years in the future. So they are reflecting true and actual costs.