There are a couple of things I wanted to address in what you said to Mr. McCauley. We think the changes we're proposing are very important—and this is not about one government. We really believe this is about the long term, in looking not only at the 2012 report by this committee, but also at other examples. The Australian example is one of the ones we've looked at closely. This is more than a change that ought to be subject to the whims and the power of one government. This is something that we're engaging Parliament with. We believe that it warrants a change in the Standing Orders, and having the flexibility, whereby we're being totally transparent about the operational challenge for the first two budgetary and estimates cycles over the next year and four or five months, from April 30 going to the following March 31. This reflects both the operational challenges in doing what is a very significant change within the government, but it also adheres completely to the principle that's guiding us, namely a better engagement of Parliament around the spending of government and the budget and estimates process.
I've talked to Tony Clement about this. The broad changes we're proposing are consistent with his views of the direction we're going. I think this is something that we all ought to understand: the importance of strengthening the accountability of government to Parliament in the fundamental area of government spending.