Government Operations Committee on Dec. 8th, 2011

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

Well, the approach we have now has been in existence for about 50 years. As I indicated, each department managed its own IT infrastructure system, in part because some of the technology we had in the past didn't actually support large consolidated models. As I've said, even just in the last 10 years, technology has changed substantially.

What we had was duplication, unnecessary diversity, and inefficiency. There are challenges with maintenance. There are unnecessary security vulnerabilities that we shouldn't be exposed to. Also, of course, there's aging IT.

The technology exists out there now—and a lot of people are using it—that will enable us to move beyond that fragmented approach and leverage the scale and the buying power of the Government of Canada.

I believe that moving to a more robust technology platform is long overdue. Not only can we create efficiencies, but we can make sure the critical services we deliver to Canadians are safe and sustainable.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Peter. That concludes your time as well.

The last questioner we have is Denis Blanchette, but I'm aware that we're getting close to your deadline, Minister. Do you have two or three minutes more for Denis to have his turn?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

Sure; three more minutes. It's just that we have another meeting.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

If we could do a half a round, Denis, perhaps you could truncate your questions?

[Denis Blanchette, NDP, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Thank you, minister, for these few extra minutes. It's very appreciated.

In answering a colleague's question, you said that you wanted to consolidate services in order to better structure our assets. Clearly, our infrastructure is aging. So, everything is to be centralized and will become a strategic asset of the government. We must keep that in mind.

Will you commit to ensuring that no cuts are made to this government asset, so that Canadians can receive the services they are entitled to and the level of performance expected from a modern public administration?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

In fact, this kind of transformation will do the exact opposite, which is to increase our opportunity and our ability to deliver services to Canadians, whether it's just something as simple as businesses that interface with the Government of Canada.... We hear from small and medium-sized enterprises all the time about how complicated it is to make the connections they need to with the people across government when they want to do business with the Government of Canada, so just something as simple as having one e-mail system.... This is about making the interface easier between the citizens and the government and between businesses and government. That's just at the most basic level.

When we look at creating better and more efficient networks and at our data centres and how we manage our data and make it more secure, all of that speaks to delivering better services to Canadians. The Auditor General has said that what is at stake here if we do not modernize our IT infrastructure is that services to Canadians will suffer. So our intention here, our motivation, is to make sure that we can continue to deliver those critical and essential services to Canadians.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

I think that's all the time we have.

Thank you very much, Minister, for being here. You are always welcome at our committee. I think this has served us very well in our study as we undertake the review of the massive and ambitious undertaking you're entering into.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

Good luck with your study. I look forward to hearing about what you learn from it. I appreciate it.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Thank you for being here.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

I'm going to move that we move in camera when they've cleared the room. Committee business is in camera.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

There's no need to wait, really.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Oh, okay. I'll move that we move this in camera.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

We can call this in camera now and give them a moment to clear the room.

[Proceedings continue in camera]