Let me say, first of all, that, as I understand it, there were no cuts in any wages per se. The wages of people earning a certain level of money were not cut.
There were certain agreements that had been entered into in which there was an increase above the 1.5%, and those increases were brought back to that 1.5%. We thought, in view of the tremendous economic recession and the fact that taxpayers in the private sector as well as the public sector were paying for the public sector, with many in the private sector losing their positions—certainly in southern Ontario in the manufacturing areas—that the 1.5% increase was a fair one, in view of the hardships that taxpayers themselves were suffering during this very difficult time.
I've been a public servant for most of my career. I spent some time in the private sector, but as a public servant, one of the things I believe most public servants believe is that their responsibility is to the taxpayer and is to deliver the level of service that the taxpayer requires of them. I don't believe this Expenditure Restraint Act will have a negative impact on the delivery of service by an individual public servant.