Mr. Garret Doocey:

On that point, it is important for the committee to be aware, and no doubt members are already, that Mr. Walsh has raised two very good points on multi-annual funding. There are two aspects to it, as Mr. Walsh has referenced. One is giving certainty on what funding is to come over a three-year period or a five-year period. Ideally, it would be a five-year period. This is certainly in gift of the Department. We could state this was the indicative allocation for TII or the NTA over the next five years and they could plan on that basis. The other aspect of multi-annual funding, which Mr. Walsh has alluded to, is more prevalent in the private sector and runs into a fundamental issue with how we constitutionally and legislatively structure our annual Estimates. We can write to an agency and state this is it indicative allocation over a five-year period but every Department will always include a sentence immediately thereafter stating the above is subject to the annual Estimates process. As I understand it, the second element of multi-annual funding is constitutionally and legally impossible to do in a public sector environment.