Mr. Chair, there still seems to be some confusion on this point. My friend keeps saying “the number that we require”. We're not requiring people to leave. We simply reported that over the last two to three years we have seen an attrition rate of over 11,000 people. We don't require it; we don't demand it; we don't push people out the door. We simply said there will be over 11,000. That's not a number.... I don't know; maybe this is an example, when you have something as misleading as you have from the PBO, of a case in which members would have some confusion over this.
Let me be clear on it: we have never, ever required that any number of people leave. We have never required that over 11,000.... We simply stated that over 11,000 have left, and our prediction is that this year it will probably be over 11,000. We have not required it. It is up to each department to settle and to manage.
I would ask my friend—she talked about the coast guard—whether she has received a number from the coast guard saying how many people they're going to have next year.