Official Languages committee  We act in accordance with—

Official Languages committee  Can I respond to that?

Official Languages committee  We are not trying to be difficult. I just want to make that clear. We are trying to explain the mandate that we were given under a Treasury Board decision. We are required to act in accordance with that decision. That is what we are doing. As to whether there is a better approach, that is clearly not up to us as public servants to decide.

Official Languages committee  I think that is something for you to discuss.

Official Languages committee  That is not our role.

Official Languages committee  I tried to explain it to you earlier. This is quite a vast matrix that includes several departments and many questions. It happens that a department succeeds very well in some areas, and not very well in others. In addition, the questions are different. How can I know that if one question is more important than another?

Official Languages committee  We gave you everything we had received.

Official Languages committee  Of course.

Official Languages committee  No department has ever said no to us.

Official Languages committee  It is really not like that.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  It is not random. It is required by deputy ministers, deputy heads.

Official Languages committee  Departments have very different realities, we know that.

Official Languages committee  Some departments are very successful in some regards but have problems in others. They try to find ways to meet the challenges.

Official Languages committee  Deputy heads are responsible for identifying the challenge and finding ways of addressing the shortcoming. That is the first step. For our part, we take a very broad view of the environment. If we identify systemic problems that are present in many departments, that means there is a problem.