Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome to the committee, Mr. Barton. I want to acknowledge that you're here as an independent witness and that certainly you've served under successive prime ministers. Clearly, I'm reading that we...and certainly part of the work of this committee is around a study on contracting and outsourcing. That's very important, and it clearly is where this is very quickly moving.
I have questions, but before I move into those, I would like to give you the opportunity to respond to Ms. Kusie's original question around a note, I presume, from Minister Freeland.