We are pleased to have you before us again, and we thank you for your assistance in helping us to understand the estimates and to get some detailed answers to questions.
Last week, I had a number of questions that I asked the panel before us, and they felt they couldn't answer on a broader scope. They could give us vote 1(b) and so on, but they couldn't give it in a broader scope. I'd like to start with some broader questions. Perhaps you could help me with those, and then we can get a little more detailed.
I asked each of the people who were before us last week what they had done to achieve the savings required under the budget, what the impacts were on existing departments, how these were being mitigated within those departments, and if the savings were one time or ongoing; it was kind of in that thread. As you can appreciate, those were some of the questions of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, and he will be before us later this morning.
I'd like for you to give me a broader overview. I know it's difficult, because you can't talk to each department. We got some indication last week. They talked about travel. They talked about hospitality. But I don't know if that's going to give us the budget requirement on a go-forward basis, and I don't know what the concerns are within that requirement. Perhaps you could review this generally, and then I have other questions.
Thank you.