Okay, I'll try to do this within a minute.
It's actually a very complex question that you're asking. I don't think there's any simple answer to it, but I think I'd like to take the opportunity to clarify something. Yes, the RCMP is subject to what some would call significant budget reductions, but that has nothing to do with federal policing and what we're doing now.
Federal policing was not impacted by the deficit reduction action plan. We were not. We were excluded from that. That being said, we have other issues that are negatively impacting us, for example, the unfunded salary pay raises over the past three years, which equated to approximately 179 members who we have now to take off the books. There's an affordability, and our affordability is shrinking. You're absolutely right.
What's the risk associated with this shrinking affordability when we compare that with the restructuring we're doing and all the efficiencies we're realizing? You may not agree with me, but I believe that the exercise we're going through now will actually allow us to provide a better service to Canadians than we are now. Re-engineering is not simply about reducing the number of employees and looking at categories of employees. It also involves providing flexibility to our managers in the field to be able to deploy their resources to the highest priorities and the latest emerging threat.