Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for being here this afternoon, Ms. Barrados, Mr. Coffin and Ms. Gobeil.
We know this isn't a news item we learned about before inviting you to come and testify. For a number of years now, we've been hearing, and there is evidence to support this, that there will be a deficit, regardless of the size, that the reason is demographic and that the people in the baby boom generation will be leaving.
Ms. Barrados, my first question concerns planning. I listened to you attentively and I understand that you're also inviting us to speak to the agency officials. I'd like to know whether we can find some comfort, not to say some trust, in the fact that better and better planning is being done. Or should we be concerned instead by the fact that there has been or there still is a certain abdication in the delegation of authority?
The person who delegates is always responsible. It's good to delegate; I'm in favour of it, but, when I hear your remarks regarding what I call employees who are recruited in the short term, for example, I still find, as before, that ad hoc decisions are unacceptable. The fact that managers make ad hoc decisions, knowing they will create a problem over the long term, may become unpardonable.
My second question won't surprise you. It concerns official languages, and it is very much a concern for me. We've talked about representation. That's important as well. In view of the fact that qualified people in all fields will be leaving, and thus in the official languages field as well, can we have some assurance that those who are recruited will meet the language requirements of the positions, in terms of both service and of their rights, both Anglophones and Francophones, and that they will be able to work in the official language of their choice? This therefore means that supervisors will obviously be able to supervise in the language of their choice.
Those are my first questions, but I have others to ask as well.