What is your strategy for getting to 5%?
Some of us feel there is no fat left to be trimmed, and some of this cutting is “penny wise, pound foolish”. You will just have to be contracting out the work that you have to eliminate. When you cut all the fat away and you're into the flesh and the bones, now you're getting into a substantial impact on your ability to provide the services in your mandate. Five percent may seem like a reasonable amount, but we went through that process under the Liberal government years ago—cutting, hacking, and slashing with program review—and some of those cuts still haven't healed.
I notice you make reference to the number of external consultants you use now. You may be able to find efficiencies there. The reason we went into this consultant phenomenon in Ottawa was that they laid everybody off and then hired them back at $1,500 a day. It's a false economy to lay off somebody who makes $200 a day, give him a big payout, and then hire him back at $1,500 a day. Then we wonder why you can't swing a cat in Ottawa without hitting a consultant.