Government Operations committee  Chair, we've called for, and I will continue to call until the end of my mandate...I think there need to be longer fiscal projections. We see the Parliament buildings, but there are also a number of other challenges facing government fiscal pressures that are going to come. Almost every review that we do of crown corporations points to funding rusting infrastructure, be it the ferries to Newfoundland or postal modernization, and when we talk about IT systems in government, there are going to be needs there.

Government Operations committee  Thank you.

Government Operations committee  Chair, I will just briefly remark that we note in the report examples from England, Australia, and the U.S., where in all cases the responsibility and accountability for their legislative buildings have been given back to their legislature. There have been studies in the past of different models.

Government Operations committee  I would say just probably because of the amounts of money involved and--

Government Operations committee  Yes, it would be an issue of amount, and if this body or intendant or whatever decided they needed a billion dollars per year, will that work in the fiscal framework of the government?

Government Operations committee  Well, I wouldn't even say it's being....

Government Operations committee  One of the problems was that it wasn't being spent.

Government Operations committee  The projects would be designed, but the funding was never given to do the projects. I think that's one of the major reasons for delays through all those years: the funding was just not made available to be able to carry out the projects. In approving of a plan, be it a five-year plan, the long-term funding should go with that.

Government Operations committee  That's right. It's done elsewhere.

Government Operations committee  I wish I'd brought it, Chair, but we did do an audit of the management of official residences in probably 2006 or 2007. I can certainly provide a copy to the committee, if you're interested. They fall under the National Capital Commission and Public Works. We found that actually there had been a lot of improvement made in most of the official residences, with the exception of 24 Sussex.

Government Operations committee  Thank you.

Government Operations committee  First of all, I would think that if an organization like that were established, it would be an officer or agent of Parliament. Ahead of that, there would have to be questions around how the appointment process is made, the qualifications, how that office would be established, who they would report to, what would be the role of parliamentarians, what committee would that organization report to, and what authorities they would have.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  No, it is not doing very well.

Government Operations committee  Oh! Oh!