I wanted to congratulate you on your presentation. In a previous life, I was a real estate management consultant for the Government of Quebec. We worked in the construction of early childhood centres. That included the implementation of an innovative way of managing a real property stock. Around 2004, before I became a member of Parliament, the Government of Quebec, in particular the CIQ, was wondering how it was going to manage the 350 buildings that it owned. I remember a study that had been conducted and published at that time. It enabled us to see what the best choice was for taxpayers.
The federal government clearly proceeded quickly. As you mentioned, the fact that the criteria are not known and that people don't know how this was done is appalling. However, there are also other aspects that may have an impact on the way we manage our buildings. I have a study here. We've had the same problem in the past. As you are no doubt aware, there is a high turnover rate among professionals. It's no different in the Government of Quebec or in other public bodies. When the turnover rate is high among professionals, that increases project management costs. Perhaps you could explain to us whether there are problems of this kind at the Department of Public Works and Government Services. I know that's a fairly specific question. Is the turnover rate of technical staff a problem that the department should address? Otherwise, should the department address the way it manages its projects and real property stock?
The Government of Quebec has maintained its real property stock and has a maintenance plan because it was forced to realize at one point that it was facing challenges of this kind with buy-outs, the way it retained its staff and the decision to retain management of its public buildings. There has to be an advantage in doing that.