Thank you, Mister Chairman.
My questions are for Dr. Winn. But before I ask them, I’d like to share my opinion with you.
I’m from a sector where we tried contracting out, that is Fisheries and Oceans Canada. In fact, I think Wayne must remember this. I’m going to tell you where this process took us.
Inevitably, contracting out has led to higher costs and lack of government accountability. It’s quite clear that when you contract out, you give subcontractors a certain responsibility and you award them a one year contract and then you start having problems. But the government says that it’s a subcontractor, that they’ve signed a contract with him, and that when the contract is over, they’ll try to solve the problem with another subcontractor. I know my opinion won’t be mentioned in your report because I wasn’t consulted. But contracting out has in fact brought on a lack of accountability on the government’s part.
Some words are often repeated in your presentation. First of all, you mentioned an impartial report. I don’t think your opinions are impartial. I find it difficult to conclude that your opinions are impartial.
Secondly, you told us that your mandate was to reflect various opinions that were being circulated concerning the commission. Have you heard any positive opinions concerning the commission, or have you only heard negative opinions? If you wish to present these opinions, you should hear not only negative opinions but positive ones as well. Have you heard any? I heard nothing in your presentation today that would lead me to believe that you heard even one positive opinion regarding the commission.
Then you talked about transparency. You told us that no one was responsible. I don’t think it’s impartial to say something like that. You talk constantly about transparency. In my opinion, transparency is a catchall word. I could say the same thing concerning just about anything. If I’m badly informed, I’ll turn to my neighbour and I’ll tell him it’s because he’s not sufficiently transparent or because he hasn’t told me everything. The notion of transparency doesn’t mean anything.
Tell me what you mean, with regards to the commission, when you talk about the notion of lack of transparency.