Finance committee  I will, very quickly, if I may, Mr. Chair. We obviously take complaints seriously, so that's something we continue to focus on. We are a large organization, and we try to address all of the complaints that are brought to our attention.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, I am committed to providing the responses to all of the questions that are asked. In some cases, there were questions to which I did not have the answer, but I'm committed to coming back to the committee, as we have in the past, with timely responses. For questions that were asked, as well, I've tried to provide as much detail as I can vis-à-vis the particular file, and I'll continue to do so.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, there's a combination. There was indeed attrition. Some of the individuals, given where they were in their careers, determined that they did not want to join the agency, because these individuals would indeed have become CRA employees, as some have. Due to a variety of factors, they decided not to accept the job offers that we made to them.

Finance committee  I report to the commissioner of the CRA.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, I did not. I reviewed the material that was prepared, in consultation with my colleague, Mr. Case.

Finance committee  I met with our parliamentary affairs folks who basically assemble the information and prepare the binders for me in terms of getting ready for the committee appearance on the supplementary estimates (C).

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, the discussions I had in terms of coming to the committee were in the context of the supplementary estimates (C). In addition to that, the only advice I always get is to be truthful and open with the committee to the extent that I can be.

Finance committee  In the context of the supplementary estimates (C), I did.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, no, what I have is in the context of the supplementary estimates (C).

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, we are very sensitive in the agency to the information that we hold as it relates to specific taxpayer information, obviously. We respect that. In our language, it's our section 241. Obviously, given the information that we hold, we are very, very sensitive to maintaining the trust, as one member indicated earlier, of the institution of the CRA.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, we believe we're well positioned to deal with the concern that has been raised. In terms of the efficiencies, we have a large budget, but we also manage it very effectively, and what we do on an annual and regular basis is to realign our dollars and cents, our priorities, as we need to realign them.

Finance committee  I meet with the commissioner on a regular basis. I didn't meet with the commissioner specifically on the appearance before the committee.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, the money is for.... I'll give you a point of reference. In 2009-10 there were 53,844 children in custody of individuals or institutions. In 2010-11 the number was 54,975, for an increase of 2%. This is an allocation that's being provided to the institutions in order to provide care for those children.

Finance committee  The CRA administers that program.

Finance committee  The increase in wages is the 1.5% increase the employees have received. As it relates to the operating expenditures, etc., it probably reflects the renewal of certain large contracts we have that are covered under the operating budget.