Good morning, Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak today about employee morale amongst the public service. In large organizations, employee morale is the subject of ongoing attention and devotion by the senior managers. We know how hard it is to keep up

employee morale in the best of times. We are certainly not in the best of times now. I am told that employee morale amongst the public service is very low.

We aren't going into any better times for the next few years. It may be difficult for us financially for a few years to overcome our financial deficit. It will be harder and harder for us to keep up employee morale amongst the public service. We have in excess of 4,000 public servants. They are an important element to the success of how well this government does or how poorly it performs.

They are a very valuable resource and they are the mechanism by which we drive our programs. Cabinet is the driver. They are the ones that steer the wheel, take the curves in the road and shift the gears. The public service is the engine and the tires, Sometimes they have to have fuel and the tires have to be inflated or deflated, depending upon the weather.

While I like many aspects of the budget and the Minister is to be commended and complimented for the many initiatives that have been made, I disagreed with certain aspects. I look forward to addressing that next week in a statement.

In the meantime, what concerns me is the subject of the morale in the public service and the importance of the public service was not addressed in the budget. Specifically, I am concerned that the government has no central Personnel department to address employee morale on an ongoing basis. It is an area I would like to ask questions in during question period. Thank you.