Government Operations committee  I don't want to guess, since I don't have that number handy.

Government Operations committee  Yes, Canada Post is a Crown corporation.

Government Operations committee  There are about 60 departments, but several organizations are affected by...

Government Operations committee  In response to an earlier question, I mentioned the review of administrative services and operation costs of the government being led by my colleague Daniel Jean. The purpose behind that is to do exactly what the comment raised: look at this across the government, as opposed to just looking at it on a department-by-department basis.

Government Operations committee  I think a better way of explaining it is that departments, deputy ministers, and ministers will be managing within their envelopes. They will be making some decisions on internal efficiencies. They will be doing so primarily to absorb the increase in salaries that has already been negotiated at 1.5%.

Government Operations committee  Madam Chair, I do not consider this to be offloading onto deputy ministers. This is what deputy ministers do on a regular basis. This is part of what we are mandated to do. This is part of our responsibilities. It's part of our responsibilities under the Financial Administration Act to manage our resources effectively.

Government Operations committee  If I may say so, Madam Chair, deputy ministers are responsible for managing the budgets, and the budgets are recorded to them through their ministers by Parliament as voted by Parliament. This is something we do on a regular basis. We manage those elements. I do not consider a freeze on operating budgets to be cutting and slashing.

Government Operations committee  Each organization will have to examine the decisions and how they will make those determinations. What we have given you are the global numbers. In each instance, each organization and department has its own operating budget. It can move money from operating administration to salaries and from salaries to operations.

Government Operations committee  The growth in employment from 2005 to 2009 has been about 12.4%.

Government Operations committee  Madam Chair, with regard to the earlier part of the member's presentation, I think there is a responsibility on the part of all public servants to be effective stewards of the resources we have. The responsibility to be as effective and efficient as possible is in fact an ongoing duty and responsibility, as it is for the deputy ministers to manage effectively and efficiently within the resources they are provided.

Government Operations committee  But that is part of the responsibility that is ongoing. So it isn't new. It is what we are mandated to do and what we are responsible for. With regard to the deputy minister responsible for the administrative review, that is a position that has been established within the office of the Privy Council.

Government Operations committee  Perhaps just on that, Madam Chair, I did say explicitly in my remarks that any measures that have been approved in the budget or that were covered in the main estimates were also included, so if they had been approved by cabinet and had found their way in...just as some measures in Budget 2010 will find their way in, for example, through supplementary estimates, which will go towards increasing the operating budgets of a number of departments.

Government Operations committee  If I may, I can briefly tell you that the work on that is progressing as quickly as our procurement process allows us to progress, if I can put it that way. There is in fact an increased interest in migrating to a consolidated network, essentially because of security purposes at this point.

Government Operations committee  The pay system, as you mentioned, is over 40 years old. In fact, it is being looked at in regard to tendering of a new system and service. Right now, a lot of data entry has to be done manually because, in its configuration, the current system cannot capture the data electronically.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I think what I referred to briefly in my opening remarks is that there is a review of administrative services and operating costs of the Government of Canada, which was also announced in the budget, and to which my colleague Daniel Jean has just recently been appointed.