Welcome to the committee once more, Mr. Minister.
I appreciate your empathy for the members of the federal public service. I was a member too before I became a politician. Our public servants provide us with a huge number of services.
However, in your speech, I would have liked to hear one point in particular, in your capacity as President of the Treasury Board. You talked about respect for public service workers, but what about respect for taxpayers? As I already told you in another meeting, that responsibility falls to you. In a sense, you are the government’s anti-Santa Claus.
Now that you are halfway through your mandate, I have to tell you that I have no compliments for you, because you seem to have lost control of budgetary expenditures. The Parliamentary Budget Officer told us today that the deficit for the current year will likely reach $22 billion, almost four times more than the Prime Minister’s promise to us. In addition, interest on the national debt is going to increase by almost $40 billion, almost two-thirds more than in this current year. That is clearly much more than you promised. So you have lost control of expenditures.
However, my concern this afternoon is about the loss of control over the public service.
First, can you tell me the number of public servants hired last year?