Finance committee  It was not our mandate to review the public service.

Finance committee  The organizations have to kind of keep it in mind as a possibility. As long as they exist on the books, there is a possibility that the Governor in Council might fill the positions.

Finance committee  Are you talking about the 400? I thought--

Finance committee  Absolutely.

Finance committee  Excuse me, I did not hear what you said.

Finance committee  We did not evaluate that... It was not just a computing exercise, it was an exercise to try to evaluate the efficiency of the various boards and to ensure the best governance. If all 245 positions had been filled, we estimate that the costs — this is a very rough estimate that we did with Treasury Board — including the per diems, the honorariums, travel costs and everything associated with these boards, would be $1,000,000 to $1,250,000 for the 245 positions.

Finance committee  I am unable to comment. Obviously, these positions are filled by Governor in Council appointments. So this would be on the advice of the minister in charge of that portfolio. I could not say regarding any given position whether it could have been filled, but as a result of the assessment it was decided that they were no longer necessary.

Finance committee  We reviewed approximately 2,700 positions in roughly 200 organizations.

Finance committee  No. Some positions we did not assess. We assessed agencies, commissions, governmental bodies, international organizations; we did not review judges, officers of Parliament, lieutenant-governors or deputy ministers. It is really in public agencies, administrative tribunals and so on that these 2,700 positions were cut.

Finance committee  No. We were only looking at Governor in Council appointments. Public servants are not appointed by the Governor in Council, except for deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers.

Finance committee  I mentioned the savings aspect but the real benefit is that we will have organizations that might become more effective thanks to somewhat smaller governing boards.

Finance committee  The 245 are part-time positions, so there are no salaries as such. There are per diems or honorariums on board members.

Finance committee  Ninety percent are vacant. Approximately 90%.

Finance committee  It's a cost avoidance. If they were to be filled, they would cost money.

Finance committee  But we're not actually eliminating positions or people as such. We're reducing the cap. The cap had been fixed at 400. Currently there are approximately 300 people in positions. The analysis that was done--