Government Operations committee  We wrote letters to the ministers, basically contacting the senior management and expressing our desire to work with them, as we have done with the government on past occasions to look for solutions. It was very much letter writing. Sometimes the press would ask how it was going,

Government Operations committee  Speaking in terms of economies, as I mentioned earlier, one job or ten jobs in a community of 300 is a huge percentage and is hugely important. These are good jobs. They contribute to local economies. In terms of economies of scale, that same number of jobs in a large centre do

Government Operations committee  As I said when I started out, I think putting the stakeholders at the front end, rather than calling them in when you've decided, goes a long way to planning and ensuring the success of any project. With respect to the savings, yes, agreed. You'd have to put money in the front en

Government Operations committee  I absolutely would agree. As a matter of fact, we would go one step further to say not only would we identify to modernize that, but in doing so we'll provide the people who work for the public service, my members, mobility to move through the system and use their talents.

Government Operations committee  I think guidelines are important. I will say yes, but I would also say that if they're moving forward towards delivery of that IT service, I'm sure they have a planning process as well.

Government Operations committee  I think there's an opportunity to save taxpayers' money. If you don't do it right, there's an opportunity to waste taxpayers' money.

Government Operations committee  As I mentioned before, you need only look at the Australian experience. If you don't involve the stakeholders—the bargaining agents—right up front to talk about the potential pitfalls that may happen, how can you move forward through the plan?

Government Operations committee  I feel we've started out slowly on this. Personally, I'm an engineer, and we like to plan things. We say that when you fail at the plan it's planning to fail. As an organization, we haven't had access to any of those planning documents, if they exist. When we came in to work wi

Government Operations committee  I think if done properly, again, there can be savings. I can't quote the numbers exactly. I'm going to leave that to Ryan. Anything, if done properly, has a potential to make savings. I can't exactly comment on the numbers. Perhaps, Ryan, you might want to say a few words.

Government Operations committee  Yes, we have opening remarks. Bear with me; they are more like speaking bullets than a speech. I want to thank you and the members of the committee for having us here today. As many of you know, PIPSC represents 60,000 members, and roughly 18,000 of those members work as IT pro

Finance committee  I've been speaking about this for the last 10 years, ever since the program reviews of the 1990s. It's a matter of balance. It goes back to a matter of balance, and having the right balance in terms of those three legs of the stool you've probably heard me talking about in the

Finance committee  That specific partnership I can't speak to. Improvement in partnerships is a good thing. It's good to have all parties at the table, but from our perspective, the amount that's placed into intramural departments and agencies has been lacking. It doesn't allow for scientific innov

Finance committee  Yes, it's an extremely complex question. You can look at it from a Master's or PhD point of view. You can basically boil it down. If you visit the laboratories and talk to the federal public servants, who are some of the best and brightest on the planet, it's how they're function

Finance committee  Maybe they were both involved.

Finance committee  Where I come from, the professionals need to be part of the solution. Unions really have a bad name, in terms of the general feeling in society, but I remind you that the solutions are found on the shop floor sometimes. There are some projects we're working on with departments