Mr. Speaker, there is certainly no lump of coal to the rest of the public service. We treat them fairly and equitably. We will certainly be doing that in the downsizing exercise.
The program was brought in by the previous government in 1988 because at the time it wanted to attract more people from the private sector to become deputy ministers. The private sector said: "You are not competitive in terms of your salaries". It said: "We will take the additional pension allowance as being part of a total compensation package and will help attract people from the private sector into deputy minister positions". That is the reason the government brought in the program.