Government Operations committee  I don't know about that one. John?

Government Operations committee  Sure. The way I see it is that there's risk in everything, and there's risk not only in the government but in the private sector as well. We take these risks and we take these chances, but I think that in the private sector we tend to build it in and say that the reality is tha

Government Operations committee  I think you should take the first one, John, if you can.

Government Operations committee  On the question about encouraging Canadian technology--and I think John hit it--I'd give them the opportunity. Part of the mandate of the PWGSC would be to bring in this equipment or technology they're using, have a place for them to purchase it, and to review the product and mak

Government Operations committee  I don't know that much about set-asides. I'd like a policy that encourages Canadian technology. That's what I'd like. I see technology as a huge wealth creator. If you can get that machine running and keep it running, it creates a lot of wealth in Canada. Whatever you can do to d

Government Operations committee  Excellent.

Government Operations committee  Absolutely. You've got it.

Government Operations committee  I think the other point to add to that is to ask whether we are investing in Canadian companies. Are we making it easy to invest in those companies? Thank you.

Government Operations committee  We do not see set-asides as positive either.

Government Operations committee  I think there are two points. It is difficult for them—and I gave you that example of the company in Kanata. They have a unique product--

Government Operations committee  I'm not intimately familiar with that side of it, but I'll tell you what I heard anecdotally, so that you can get that. It was that this company produced this computer—and there is really no computer in the world that competes with it—and they brought it in. One of the departmen

Government Operations committee  John, I'll turn that one over to you.

Government Operations committee  Sure. I think the need to improve communications is what we're hearing from our members. There was just a lot of confusion about what was meant and what PWGSC was really trying to do. People still aren't clear on that.

Government Operations committee  What my members have been telling me is that they go to see a director general in charge of IT and they map out what needs to be done, and the director generals will know what to do. I'll give you one example. I know one director general who wanted a $100 piece of software just

Government Operations committee  I'm not exactly sure what the problem is. This is in all departments.... I shouldn't say all departments. These are in some departments that I've spoken to, where they just seem to say that there are layers of bureaucracy that they can't get through. Where that comes from, I'm ac