Government Operations committee  I'm not sure I can bring it down to four walls and a phone, but we'll certainly do our level best.

Government Operations committee  I think I know what you're looking for, yes.

Government Operations committee  Certainly there is a database.

Government Operations committee  I should preface my comments by saying I'm an Ottawa girl. Therefore, my answer to this would be very misleading, because it would be based on what I see here in Ottawa, which is not necessarily representative. In particular, I wouldn't have a sense for you at all, sir, in terms of what special purpose space, military bases, laboratories—

Government Operations committee  It would be pure speculation on my part.

Government Operations committee  I would expect that the Department of Public Works could give you an answer to that as it relates to the portion of the portfolio that they hold.

Government Operations committee  Certainly elements of the portfolio do. I would call the Parliament Buildings iconic. I think there are other buildings, heritage properties, that are particularly important to Canadian identity and heritage. I would also say that--and this is just one man's view--I think there is value in the dispersion of buildings across Canada, things like post offices and RCMP detachments, in terms of establishing the federal presence and connecting Canadians.

Government Operations committee  My understanding is that those reports were advice to the minister, and therefore, typically, advice to a minister is protected under the Access to Information Act. I personally don't find that element of the current context particularly unusual.

Government Operations committee  I don't know exactly how the next steps will play out, but certainly the details are going to have to be vetted at Treasury Board. In fact, we will be doing the analysis on that. So again, yes, that would be protected information on a go-forward basis. As you're suggesting, once the leases are struck, I don't know how PW treats those kinds of documents from an ATI Act point of view.

Government Operations committee  The timing of our analysis will be completely and utterly contingent on how quickly that bidding process runs its course and on the time given to bidders to submit their proposals. Then typically there will be analysis inside PW, and it would only be after this that it would come to the secretariat.

Government Operations committee  In answering your question, I would remind you, of course, that those aren't all PW buildings. That said, what transpires when a department runs into a funding pressure is that typically, to the degree that they can't allocate from within to cover it, a Treasury Board submission is looked at in the framework of all the competing government priorities.

Government Operations committee  I don't have a personal opinion or even a professional opinion on that at this stage of the game. But on whether it makes sense, I think it always makes sense for any organization, whether it's the government PW or a private sector organization, to constantly look at the range of options they traditionally analyze in trying to determine best value or best way forward, and to ensure they haven't become wed to a single set of options.

Government Operations committee  You're right, 25 years is a very long period of time. Even though the government works in 25-year and long-term contexts like that, in the private sector many things can change quickly, and 25 years is a lifetime. So I think what PW will have to do--and again, I can't speak on their behalf--is be very careful about what the off-ramps may or may not be in negotiating the terms of the leases and about any financial penalties that may go with those.

Government Operations committee  I can't comment on whether the others are working with the same IT disadvantage, because I don't know where they are across departments in that scale of sophistication. Accrual accounting would go some of the way in assisting from a planning point of view, but I don't think it's the magic bullet either.

Government Operations committee  I would suggest that a goal is always a good thing, along with a benchmark that tells you where you're starting from and a system to measure with. You might, if you were setting a goal, also want to have a sense of what we'll call legitimate ways of reaching the goal, so that you avoid costs being shifted or off-loaded onto other ledgers or accounts to suggest that the savings have been made when in fact they haven't.