Thank you very much.
I appreciate each and every one of you being here today to lend your knowledge and expertise to this very important question. Thank you very much for giving us a little bit of time at the start of this meeting to resolve some committee business. I certainly appreciate your attendance, as well as your patience.
As you pointed out quite clearly, Budget 2010 with its expenditure restraint on operational spending is going to have an impact. What we're studying, of course, is that impact. We've had before us a number of deputy ministers, a number of department officials, and others who have talked about that. Some have said that there will be minimal impact on the public service. Some have said that there will be minimal impact on services, that we can actually move through this and still do some of the hiring that's required by some of the departments. That's one message we've gotten. However, Treasury Board President Stockwell Day talked about freezes and cuts to the public sector.
Mr. Gordon, you've said that this budget is a clear attack on quality in the public service. I want to come back to that.
I also want to talk to you, Mr. Poirier, about the fact that you said there is no question that the public service will experience a reduction in size, that when employees are leaving through natural attrition, they may not be replaced.
I want to talk about some of those things, and to ask you if you're privy to some of the discussions with deputy ministers, because we believe it rests with them to make the choices within their departments. Have you been part and parcel of some of the discussions with deputy ministers on the reductions or on some of the challenges within the departmental budgets?
Before I ask that question, allow me to go to Mr. Isaacs.
Mr. Isaacs, you just talked about financial officers who are already struggling to implement the act. What you're referring to is the Federal Accountability Act. Could you be a little more specific on that? You're saying that we're living with the Federal Accountability Act, but now we have a budget that potentially conflicts with the implementation of the act. Could you be more specific on that? You talked about the financial officers, and you talked about, I think, some of the challenges they're facing, but could you be a little more specific on why you say that?