Finance committee  If we really want less paperwork and tax filing burden on individuals, and to help ensure that people get the benefits they're entitled to, what really should be supported is the move to the automated tax filing form, which we advocate for and which the government says it's going to be looking to implement.

Finance committee  I really don't know the numbers. We're not in a position to be able to do that calculation. But certainly the justification provided by the CRA for that number sounds reasonable. It's likely to be even more expensive than that, given that projects don't always go as anticipated.

Finance committee  I'm not at all sure they would do the job better or worse than the people who are doing it in the province. I'm suggesting if you want to simplify it under one umbrella, it makes more sense to simplify it under the Canada Revenue Agency, where the systems are already in place, than it does to centralize under Revenu Québec, where all these systems would need to be built.

Finance committee  Yes, if I may, I will ask Monsieur Couillard to respond, because he is actually an employee of Canada Revenue Agency in Quebec.

Finance committee  Thank you so much. Good afternoon. My name is Debi Daviau. I am president of The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, or PIPS, the national union that represents approximately 1,400 Canada Revenue Agency professionals in Quebec. Overall, we represent some 12,000 auditors at the Canada Revenue Agency across the country.

Transport committee  As you can tell by Matt's and my opening remarks, we've been comparing notes and working together on this issue. That's because not one of our groups of members could operate in a silo. The workers, particularly at Nav Canada, rely very heavily on each other's expertise. A cut to my members, for example, could necessarily affect the safety of other members and the Canadian public.

Transport committee  They said, “Thank you very much, and we'll relay this information to the minister.” Unfortunately, there was no outward support of the plan or even an understanding of the urgency of putting a plan in place. These cuts are happening as we speak, and across the entire industry, and time is not our friend here.

Transport committee  As you know, we represent only a certain segment of the workers at Nav Canada, but collectively the workforce at Nav Canada is going to be essential to the recovery of the entire aviation industry. When we talk about aviation, we can't just look at the airlines, although that is an important piece.

Transport committee  Nav Canada is a fee-for-service company after being privatized, and it recovers its money from those fees to airlines. As the number of flights has dropped, in order for Nav Canada to be able to maintain a certain level of service it has to charge even higher fees. That's why we're asking for a grant for Nav Canada, not a loan, because a loan would result in higher fees to airlines down the road, and that's certainly not going to help anybody.

Transport committee  It's exactly the same thing. We have joined other unions to talk to the employees of the minister's office.

Transport committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon. My name is Debi Daviau and I'm the president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. We represent over 60,000 professionals across Canada. I'd like to thank you for this opportunity to present our concerns about the situation at Nav Canada and how best to ensure its continued viability.

Government Operations committee  We have never been privy to the cost. I can tell you that departments are proprietary over those pools, because it costs them a significant amount of money, time, resources, and that comes at an expense to other things that they want to engage in. I'm not sure what the tally is, but I know it's a significant waste, especially if they're not utilizing the resources that are then identified through those processes for a pool.

Government Operations committee  That's part of the problem. Departments have to fund this resourcing themselves. Once they've gone to the trouble of establishing a pool and determining pre-qualified resources, the last thing they want to do is let other departments who haven't paid for that process draw from those pools.

Government Operations committee  Competitive pay.

Government Operations committee  About $14 billion a year is spent on contracted-out services. We believe that most of those are 100% cost overruns, because the aptitudes and the availability of public service employees are there; you just have to be able to tap into it. The cost is anywhere between two and 10 times more expensive, so it's not even in the government's best interest to go this route.