Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here today. I'll continue sort of along the same lines as what was said previously.
I am the NDP critic for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. During consultations I held over the summer in Atlantic Canada, I saw that public servants were really concerned about the impact of eliminating secretaries of sate for the agencies, including ACOA.
ACOA's role was to define regional economic development needs. Until now, there was a list of local needs, and those files were sent to a minister in Ottawa. But there is concern that there is a role reversal, that the minister and Ottawa are making the decisions and the agency is responsible for implementing the programs devised in Ottawa.
Could you confirm that concerns like this have not been expressed by your staff?