Official Languages committee  There is nevertheless that flexibility, but staffing is done regionally, and the directors general fill the positions based on needs.

Official Languages committee  That's the case.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  That's correct; four of them are not.

Official Languages committee  No, that's not it. The designation of the border crossings is based on four or five criteria.

Official Languages committee  We start with the designation of the position. Then we try to find people who meet the position profile. In Quebec—

Official Languages committee  I don't understand the question, Mr. Chairman.

Official Languages committee  This is part of the way in which we designate the positions. Are they bilingual or not? It's the traffic, the kind of clientele and so on. There are criteria for each position; it's not Quebec as a whole if you ask—

Official Languages committee  For my part and for our part, yes, there is that willingness.

Official Languages committee  As I told you, we're meeting with the executive committee on December 23. It should be ready in January. I would be pleased to send it to you.

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mr. Chair. You're correct. In fact, the cuts at CBSA have been aligned with transforming a lot of the back-office work we're doing, realigning programs. The front line, which really is the people that you meet at primary, either at land border or air, has not been affected.

Public Safety committee  It's a combination. It's a layered approach. First, we do a lot of pre-screening, whether it's in air or in the marine mode. Sometimes it's officer intuition; other times it's through various detection technologies. We do take a number of containers aside every day to inspect them, based on risk management and targeting, and a lot of the seizures we get come from that particular process.

Public Safety committee  First, I welcome the opportunity to clarify the record in terms of the impact on the border. In general terms, the numbers you've quoted are accurate. The CBSA, like all other departments, contributed to the effort in fighting the government deficit, so we contributed $143 million.

Public Safety committee  I really do appreciate the opportunity to speak to this rather important issue. The whole concept of managing exit information in Canada is really the cornerstone of the modernization of managing Canada's border. Historically, Canada has not collected information on individuals leaving the country, whether they be Canadians or non-Canadians.

Public Safety committee  I'm intimately aware of the case the member is referring to. There are two components to that particular issue. One of them actually falls under the responsibility of the Public Service Commission, and that has to do with the partisan activities of public servants. From the CBSA perspective, the responsibility we had was to determine whether or not the employee was using our facilities and our tools for purposes that were inconsistent with their responsibilities.