Government Operations committee  We have another explanation as well, but the most significant amount was for this particular system. I hope we will continue to receive money for that system, because it is meeting our goals. On the other hand, it is not connected to the other systems; we have to have what is known in English as a patch.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your questions. This is a very important matter for all of us. We all receive pay cheques. But the short answer to your question is that there is currently no recruitment problem on the administrative support side of the public service. Nor is there any problem retaining staff.

Government Operations committee  It's actually what allows us to do it, because the volume is very high. There was an earlier question about whether we have a recruitment problem in the public service. Overall, we do not have a recruitment problem. We have a lot of interest in public service jobs. That's not to say we don't have areas where we have some shortfalls.

Government Operations committee  As to my biggest challenge--and this is something I said to the Senate committee when they were discussing Senator Ringuette's bill to eliminate the flexibility to allow geographic limits on external competitions--my biggest concern is that I get workarounds and that the legislation allows managers to go for non-advertised processes if they have someone with a unique skill or they need that flexibility.

Government Operations committee  Perhaps you could clarify something for me. You talked about a budget increase. Are you referring to the PSC's budget?

Government Operations committee  Most of the increase we received was for computer systems. For us, they are the only way of expanding our capacity. This is an amount that is not part of the base. It will be renewed with every Treasury Board approval.

Government Operations committee  I think that's entirely up to the committee.

Government Operations committee  I don't have any role in disciplining deputy ministers.

Government Operations committee  I have no way of knowing that, so I can't go there. The other thing we did was look at that same pay system to see if we saw any of this flipping back and forth that was a bit of a pattern in some of these. These two stood out. In examining the systems, I didn't see anything else that would make me say I must take more—

Government Operations committee  I wrote to the deputy ministers involved and I had conversations. The person who disciplines deputy ministers is the clerk.

Government Operations committee  You're talking about a range of punishments to people.

Government Operations committee  I'm satisfied that we've done what we should do here and that people were not happy about this. People were quite embarrassed about this. We've done a lot of briefing.

Government Operations committee  But I am more concerned about addressing this in a systemic way so that we don't have the possibility for this.

Government Operations committee  Just to explain the kind of position, it's almost like having a holding pattern. You're working in a minister's office, and instead of taking your chances through the priority system, you have a place where you can directly start the next day once you leave the minister's office.

Government Operations committee  I agree with you, and that's why I revoked them.