I was reading the transcripts from past meetings to get some of that information, and looking at the annual reports. If my memory serves me correctly, the budget would be in the neighbourhood of $48 million this year, with some 330 or so FTEs.
That being said, as you are probably aware, in terms of the details of how those resources are currently allocated, and where the priorities are, until I'm in the position I am really not well positioned to give any real assessment of what would or would not be appropriate on a go-forward basis. I have a lot to learn about how that organization is currently using its resources, and I would want to consult obviously with my team and with parliamentarians, too, to see if we are putting the resources in the right places: Do we need to shift or not? Do we have the resources we need?
In terms of my experience, you'll know from my CV that I have run significant directorates in the past, but certainly not as large as this institution. Depending on where I was working, there were somewhere between 30 and 40 full-time equivalents, and budgets of $2 million to $3 million.
I think what's really important, though, is that I have had the great privilege of being invited by the Senate to be very much involved in corporate files and in budgetary matters well outside of my own areas of responsibility. This was both by being asked to be the lead senior manager in terms of the legislative sector on HR and finance files for a number of years but also being asked to clerk the subcommittee of our internal economy committee on not only committee budgets and the allocation of funds between budgets—which, for budgets, would normally be an amount allocated between $2 million and $4 million a year—but also the subcommittee on the Senate estimates. I was privileged to be the clerk of that, and I had an opportunity to be involved in supporting the Senate in developing its budget.
It's an area where I feel very comfortable. Even though I don't pretend to be a finance expert, I am nonetheless very comfortable in that domain.