Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to ask the Minister about the Employee Recognition Program. This government is supposed to be about prevention and engaging our employees. I hear a lot of frustration about wasted energy, wasted resources, inefficiencies in programs. A lot of employees have individual observations and experiences to offer that aren’t necessarily part of their job descriptions. When we started the reductions exercise, I think it was recognized as a valuable source of information. We put out a call, and in fact we got a lot of good suggestions from employees in our public service. It seems like there should be opportunities for that in the Employee Recognition Program.
Perhaps there is a specific program on that, but I think our priorities this term have been set at lowering costs and reducing climate change — that is, greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption — and increasing the effectiveness of government. I’m wondering: has the department made recommendations on this government-wide and, of course, within their own department — a specific Employee Recognition Program that would focus on recognition in some way or another, financially or status, some sort of status, or whatever. I’m sure HR knows better how to recognize employees in the area of achieving our goals of lower cost and improved effectiveness.