Absolutely, and without a doubt I have concerns.
I have never seen contractors take a look and say that they should be going with the public service. I have never seen strong evidence for that. There always seems to be a reliance on skewed evidence that is not reasonable and doesn't consider the full context or appreciate what the challenges would be.
I'm mindful of my counterpart in the U.K., who tells me many stories about the contracting out of the defence department in the U.K. and all of the challenges that have come as a result of that. Absolutely none of that contracting out has been to the benefit of the citizens of the U.K. or the department within defence there. These are ongoing issues.
These kinds of companies always seem to lack transparency. We never get to see exactly what it is they were looking at. We never quite know who exactly they spoke with. It's always difficult to rely on any of the results they provide us.
You also have to consider the loyalty of the companies. Public servants take an oath. We swear loyalty to Canada and we are always looking for the best for national defence. We have to abide by a code of ethics. We continue to follow employment equity plans. All of this gets skirted when it comes to the private sector. Its end game is to make a dollar at the end, and it can. That's fine, but that's not providing the best value for Canadians.