Government Operations committee  That's a wonderful question, sir. I have the good fortune of having been a civil servant through the recessions of 1980-81 and 1990-91 and the program review experience of both the mid-1990s and now. Certainly, while as a government we face some economic and fiscal challenges as we go through this recession into recovery, this is nothing like the challenge of the mid-1990s.

Government Operations committee  I have serious concerns with age, I'll tell you--

Government Operations committee  --but I think you're asking for my view of the department.

Government Operations committee  I have some age distribution figures here, sir, and I'll try to find a pithy way to summarize. Here's one way of looking at it. The largest percentage falls in the 50 to 54 age band. That is 20% of our employees. That is followed by the 45 to 49 age band, at 16%. That indicates the aging of our demographic.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, sir. I would suggest that Ms. Diane Lorenzato answer this question.

Government Operations committee  Again, it will be restricted to the operational part of our budget, and the priorities that you have seen in budget 2010 would not be affected. Our capital budget would not be affected, and our program allotments, if you like, would not be affected, so it will be our administrative side or our operational funds.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much for the question. Obviously it's a question then of working smarter. It's a very intelligent question. We certainly grapple with increased demands for services. Workload is an issue. We do have attrition rates. We will continue to have retirements. The only way you can match the demand for work and some of the budget constraints we will manage is by re-engineering our business processes and by getting more economies and efficiencies in the tax dollars that we have now.

Government Operations committee  I well understand. That's an excellent question. The question of whether in some way the operating budget freeze would disincent regular staffing and as a consequence foster greater use of outside consultants is often raised. It's important to be alert to the fact that just as public service salaries are part of our operating budget, so would be the costs of outside consultants.

Government Operations committee  Our operating expenditures are being frozen. There would be operating expenditures in the real property part of our department. For example, you would also find there a lot of capital votes, and they are not affected.

Government Operations committee  Certainly. Thank you for the question. IT is an important part of our department, and indeed we were before a parliamentary committee in the recent past on the issue of aging IT infrastructure. A lot of IT funding is project-related. Project-related funding has its own lifeline.

Government Operations committee  In relation to the operating budget freeze, which is the subject of our call here today, given the size of our budget, which I described in my opening remarks, we believe we can manage the freeze by administrative measures. I outlined some of those in my opening remarks. With respect to the strategic review process, we are one of several departments that will be looking across all of their programs in a comprehensive way.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I can give you our overall main estimates figures for five years, beginning in 2006-07.

Government Operations committee  Very well. Main over main, 2009-10 was $2.387 billion, going to $2.847 billion this year. That's a significant increase. The largest part of that increase would be explained by our department's participation in the government's economic action plan, in particular the accelerated infrastructure program, where we have committed an additional amount of over $400 million over two fiscal years--the one that just closed and the one we're just entering.

Government Operations committee  The number that would be frozen impacts our regular operating budget. It translates in 2010-11 to $8.7 million--less than 1%. The amount excludes budget 2010 actions. In other words, the funding for G-8 and G-20 is excluded from that number, as is our participation in the government's economic action plan.

Government Operations committee  Yes, I do. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon. My name is Andrew Treusch. I am the associate deputy minister at Public Works and Government Services Canada. With me are Alex Lakroni, chief financial officer; Diane Lorenzato, assistant deputy minister of human resources; and Caroline Weber, assistant deputy minister of the corporate services, policy, and communications branch.