Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Yes, from 2007 on, in fact to this point in time, we have been making investments on an ongoing basis.
The notion that I would hope we have clarity on here is that in the longer term, if my colleagues and I were not making investments and were not planning to renew the infrastructure, then we would be putting Canadians at risk--in the longer term. Where we stand today is that we are taking measured approaches on a year-by-year basis to ensure that whether it's the hardware, the software, or the applications themselves, they continue to be refreshed in such a way to be able to respond not only to the departmental priorities but also to any changes that we may have to make. For example, EI for the self-employed last year was something that our department needed to respond to, and we did so.
I think what we need to be focused on is that we are able to manage and deliver the responsibilities we have today. If we were to not make investments moving forward, for the next foreseeable future, we would be putting Canadians at risk. What we have been trying to demonstrate here today and with the support of the Auditor General is that we are aware, we are making those investments, and we are continuing to ensure that as we proceed forward, the availability of our systems continues to support the requirements.
So that's why, when you hear us talking about 98% or 99% availability, that hopefully gives you confidence that we are able to manage today. But longer term, if we were to wait two or three more years and not continue these investments, we would be in difficulty. Why? It costs more and more money to manage those older systems. Sometimes maintenance and expertise are no longer available. So the costs and the amount of workload that our people have to undertake to keep things running continues to grow. That's why in the longer term it is untenable for us to continue.