Perhaps I could just offer a few comments.
The 67,000 moves that I referred to in the opening statement were the transactions that you see inside the public service. A mixture of things would be in that. I share preoccupations about the mobility and movement in the public service. I talked about that at some length the last time I was here.
The whole idea behind having a Public Service Commission was to avoid nepotism, to have a merit-based public service, and to have a non-partisan public service. Hence we have this structure of a Public Service Commission that doesn't take direction from a minister.
We continue in that mode with that same kind of mission and mandate. I continue always to be concerned that we have a merit-based public service, that we're fair, that we're transparent, and that we provide fair access to all Canadians, particularly as we go through an economically difficult time. At the commission we try to support a system whereby we let managers manage while making sure they're on that path. Is the system perfect? I don't think so. Do we still need a strong commission? I absolutely believe we do. I think we function as a deterrent as well as somebody who is policing the system, in some respects.
One of the elements the clerk raises in his report, an element that I feel is absolutely the right direction to go, is this whole area of being concerned about employee engagement. As managers in the public service, we have to be concerned about engagement of the employees so that they feel part of a very important mission. It is a special calling to be a public servant; you have to have a commitment and an interest in working for the public interest and the public good, and we must engage these people to the best of our ability. A series of surveys are going on now to try to measure that. I think that would be a good way to assess how the whole current environment has an impact on employees.