Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm sorry; I had to leave the room briefly to attend to my duties as whip.
You may already have answered this question. If I am off topic, the Chair will certainly rein me in; the absent party is always to blame.
You referred to “additional operating costs for services to Members, as well as economic increase for employees” in the amount of $5.713 million.
Is the economic increase not optional? In the Speech from the Throne, the government talked about freezing salaries. There is reference here to negotiated collective agreements. But how is that going to work? Have you answered that?