Madam Thibault and Madam Chair, the issue of enforcing standards is very important, because everybody has reasons for being special, and different, and so on and so forth. We've done two things. In the past, if a department said they wanted more space than the standard or they wanted a better fit-up, as long as they had a budget to do that, they went ahead and did it, so we really couldn't control that.
Where we are now is that we have reached two situations. First of all, we have taken the standard that has existed for a while of 18 square metres per person. We have created models or samples of that and are showing people and organizations. In fact, the Auditor General's office complies with that standard. We have taken people to see these offices and have shown them that it's not scary, it's perfectly reasonable, and so forth. We have created a fit-up package that's less expensive than the older one by about $87 per square metre. As I pointed out, the secretariat has been very helpful to us in getting very strict with departments about not overspending those limits.
So it's a combination of basically cutting budgets--they have cut our budget to comply with the standards, so the money is gone--and not allowing departments, even if they have a budget, to do so easily. Today, first of all in terms of the space, there is no option, we simply enforce it. We have brought down the average usage of space from 21.4 square metres per person to 20.5 square metres a person. That's already quite a reduction, and we're moving to about 18 square metres. In terms of the fit-up, even if the department has the money, the Treasury Board has asked them to come to Public Works to approve such extras and we haven't approved any so far, so it's starting to bite now. I think that good sense is prevailing now.