Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I join my colleagues in welcoming you here, Ms. Winger. I think it's important that we hear from you on this issue from the perspective of the union that you are representing.
I don't know if you outlined in your opening comments all of the different skill sets or professions that you represent. I just quickly went to the website and saw that UNDE is actually one of the largest components of PSAC. Your members cover a wide range of occupations, and I'm going to list them: labourers, firefighters, ship crews, various skilled trades, administrative services, cleaning services, food services, technologists, technicians, linguistics, computer programmers, logistics specialists, engineers, medical administrators, mathematicians, librarians, financial analysts, recreation sports specialists, retail clerks.... The list goes on. That's a huge number of services that you represent.
I want to ask you a question in regard to something that we heard from the president of the Treasury Board. We heard from her that the percentage of government expenditures for professional services has remained relatively consistent with the size of the public service. In other words, their contracting out for services remains the same with the size of the public service.
Do you agree with that statement? Do you believe that the proportion of outsourced labour is relatively the same as the public service, or is it outpacing the size of our public servants?