That's an interesting question. I guess that's the other side of the coin of what can I bring to the department, which we've talked about, but also, what do I hope to gain by being part of it?
I have demonstrated skills in the policy area of leadership, and so on, through my past work at Finance and Treasury Board. I'd certainly still hope to improve those. In terms of my ability to lead people, I am now not just responsible for our branch, but I'm helping, through the deputy, to manager a department—and a diverse department.
To be honest, I've spent the bulk of my career, almost all of it, in central agencies, in Finance. Finance does not have regional offices across the country, so it was more difficult—although I did it—to try to get out and get regional perspectives. But Environment Canada is a more diverse department that way, spread out across the country. It's a bigger department. It's not just a policy shop; it has a science dimension, as we've talked about, and enforcement. It has a different scope from the Department of Finance or Treasury Board. Obviously the Department of Finance has a country-wide scope as well.
So I hope to learn a little bit about what it's like to manage—or help manage, in my case—a diverse department like that. I think that will help me as I progress forward to build the central agency policy skills that I've developed with some of those real practical realities of what it's like to manage a department like this.
Frankly, the other thing is that, as a public servant, I've always enjoyed being involved in interesting files. They're challenging, and that's what I like, whether it was introducing the GST or some of the other tax issues that I've been involved in. I see this as a really interesting time in the environment and in terms of the opportunity to try to help as we think through environmental policy and what that means for energy policy and the economy at a time that is perhaps unprecedented, at least for a number of years, in terms of what's happening out there in the economy. It's a real personal challenge to meet that and try to grow from it. Plus, it gives me a great opportunity to work with terrific people, because they tend to gravitate towards these files.
Those are the kinds of things that I would hope to take out of my time at Environment, and obviously contribute in the many ways that I've talked about earlier.