There's actually remarkably little duplication in terms of the data sources themselves. We have one of the best, maybe the best, stats agencies in the world here, Statistics Canada. It is the source of all the data.
Now, gathering numbers is a tough job. You have different methodologies. You have to do revisions. But everything you see is coming from that one data source. Then at the international level, that's rolled up by the OECD or occasionally the IMF or the World Bank.
The issue you're pointing to is whether we have the right analytical capacity in the right places. I was one of those analysts at EDC, and I know we had bare-bones capacity to provide the risk management input for the organization. We had enough, but there was no surplus capacity. I think the same challenge actually exists in many government departments right now.
One of the things I've seen happen in 25 years in Ottawa is that a lot of the thinking capacity, the capacity beyond operations, has been pared away with government downsizing. I think Gilles was alluding to that as well when he spoke about the size of the labs.
Ironically, as we reinvent government, one of the things that's being reinvented right out the door is the ability to have big analysis, big creative thinking. You don't need a lot of people, but you do need a little core in many organizations. It's probably inappropriate to think that you can have only one hub doing all of the analysis. There are actually good things that happen from a little bit of competitive analysis, people comparing notes and studying slightly different things.