I think this is a very important question, Ms. Barrados, for the simple reason that in 2007, the Auditor General, Ms. Fraser, identified some difficulties in certain departments in terms of the hiring and recruitment of staff, notably, in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
You are quite right: Mr. Lynch is examining this issue with a specialized task force. This means that your work in checking and ensuring that all deputy ministers have a hiring plan is not complete.
However, you said—and this is the first time I have heard of it—that you have a system that costs $7.2 million a year, a system that is used for hiring in the public service. At the same time, I would like to come back to a question I asked you at the February 29 committee meeting concerning the fact that $275 million was paid last year to agencies to hire so-called temporary workers, some of whom we know will be given permanent positions. Just for acting as intermediaries, those agencies pocket $55 million a year. So, $55 million a year plus the $7 million, means a total of some $62 million. That is a lot of money to find staff, while the PSC is here to authorize deputy ministers, who in turn, are supposed to authorize their human resources directorates to find staff.
What is the explanation for spending so much money?