I think there is a need to understand these numbers. We have asked the Auditor General to look, for instance, at specific companies already.
I think the budgeting piece here is important to get to a sense of the costs that are being spent on that. Chair, with that in mind, and since it's all the rage today, I'm going to move a motion:
According to committee testimony, the Government of Canada uses 635 staff augmentation companies or IT companies the do not perform any actual IT work themselves, and the Government does not even know how many of these companies have two employees or less, like ArriveCan contractors GC Strategies, the committee report to the House its request to the Parliamentary Budget Officer to complete a full report on the increased costs taxpayers pay due to the government using 635 staff augmentation companies and that this report is completed by June 1 2024.
I know we're close to time, so hopefully we can pass this motion quickly, Chair. I know it has now been distributed to all members in both official languages.
I will just say that this is one part of the picture, but it's not the whole picture. We see today that the government is trying to create the narrative that any reductions in spending would be devastating to Canadians who rely on government services, but that's clearly not the case, based on how much this government is spending on contracting. There are 635 companies that are IT middlemen alone for the federal government. Enormous amounts of money are being spent on contracting out and contracting to subcontract, so we would like to invite the work of the Parliamentary Budget Officer on this issue.
I hope this motion will have the support of my colleagues.
Thank you.