Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Ms. d'Auray and Mr. Smith, for coming in this afternoon. We appreciate your testimony and your willingness to visit us again.
In terms of the overall freeze on spending, of course there are a number of things that come up. Could you speak about some of the opportunities and some of the things Treasury Board is involved in and maybe other departments are involved in that you're aware of in terms of the savings that government may be able to find during this time?
I've heard some of the provincial governments describing this time as an opportunity for government to change the way it does certain things. I know there's been some effort to overhaul some of the antiquated systems that are in place, specifically the payroll system, to try to reduce the cost the government incurs in that and reduce some of the stresses that are on the employees that administer that service. But there are also other places where governments are saving right now. I know that, anecdotally, construction costs and some services are actually cheaper today than they were two years ago or even a year ago. Specifically, construction cost is one that's easy to identify. We're hearing of construction projects coming in 40% less than what they were estimated to cost even two and three years ago.
Are there other services where we're seeing a reduction in the cost, or is that being identified as something that Treasury Board follows?