Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to pursue an earlier train of thought, and it may not actually be as much a question as a request.
In regard to the IT challenges, I know your report focused on what could go wrong. One of my colleagues mentioned this was an exercise in accident prevention. I appreciate that. But personally, my focus is also on cost, waste, and the opportunities to find efficiencies in government operations. There's a concern in terms of waste.
We actually looked at a number of department budgets that had risen significantly. For example, we found that a lot of dollars were being spent on IT consultants. We then get this relatively damning report. I'm a little concerned about the amount of money that's being spent. My colleague, Mr. Young, actually used the line that they were concerned about the hiring of consultants who then hire consultants. We know they're not particularly inexpensive.
I then tie that to my concern, as I expressed earlier, about all of the different programs that have different names and IS/IT or IM/IT components, or that's what they're trying to do. I'm not a big fan of adding bureaucracy and levels of oversight. But I sense there is a lot of complexity and confusion, which may in fact be costing the government a great deal of money in terms of waste and the opportunity for certain industries to do a lot of work, when we get this rather damning report in terms of the IT situation.
This is not so much a question. It's almost a request. Your office is looking at departments and at specific issues, but I think there's a need to look at some of the IT from a larger perspective to see what on earth we're doing and how we're coordinating this effectively. I leave that with you.
I want to very quickly ask about chapter 4 and the environmental concern that you raised in terms of the Northwest Territories. You said that in regions where land claims are still under negotiation, Indian and Northern Affairs has not put an adequate regulatory system in place to protect the environment, nor have Environment Canada and Indian and Northern Affairs met the responsibility to monitor the cumulative impacts of development on the environment.
My question is twofold. What has been the response, if any, from those entities? Do you have any suggestions or recommendations to improve the situation?