The consolidation of services and assets will strengthen our efforts to ensure that government IT infrastructure is reliable and secure. By reducing the number of diverse e-mail systems, data centres, and networks, and by ensuring that security is built into any new infrastructure from the outset, the Government of Canada will be in a better position to deal with cyber attacks. Furthermore, our government stays committed to ensuring that online transactions are secure and that Canadians' personal information is protected.
The creation of Shared Services Canada builds upon existing programs and steps that have been taken to date—by reducing the number of diverse e-mail systems, data centres, and networks and by ensuring that security is built into any new infrastructure from the outset. It's obviously something that's on the minds of a lot of Canadians because they worry even in their own homes about the security of their e-mail systems, the security of their data. One way to think about it is to consider your home and how many doors and windows you have in your home. The more doors and windows you have, the more you have to secure them. It's all about access points—how many access points there are for potential cyber attacks. When you think about the fact that just one department has nine different networks, and you think about the number of access points into those systems, it's not difficult to understand why we need to consolidate and why we need to look at strengthening our efforts and our infrastructure so that it's more reliable and it's more secure.
Are there any comments either of you might like to make?