Thank you, Madam Chair.
Welcome, witnesses. Thank you for being here.
I'd like to continue somewhat in the vein that I think my colleague Mr. McKay from the Liberals was going. The purpose of our exercise today is to study the impact of this freeze on departmental budgets such as yours, and to try to gauge the impact on your ability to carry out your mandate. In your case, your mandate is very special in terms of elevating the standard of living for people overseas and eliminating poverty, etc.
I can't see how the cuts outlined in your report and in our research are possible without a real and dramatic impact in your ability to do that laudable work.
Let me start with questioning something from your own piece you introduced today, Mr. Moloney. You tell us you have approximately 1,950 employees in total, and roughly 170 of them are posted abroad in 49 countries. I was at first quite surprised to learn there are only 170, as I've travelled extensively and met an awful lot of them. It seems like they're all over the place. So I'm a little disappointed, frankly, to learn there are only 170.
The question I have, in the interests of belt tightening and reducing your budget...it must cost a lot more to keep somebody in the field than it costs to keep them living in Kanata and working in downtown Ottawa. Is there a contemplated reduction in the people you support in the field?