Thank you.
My question is certainly for the Department of Finance, but I'll let you decide who answers.
I'm looking at the Auditor General's first recommendation. You got the report on November 2, 2009. So in four months you developed an action plan. Then we go to the response to that first recommendation, and it says, “The Department has prepared a consolidated inventory of...outstanding technical changes”.
That was March, and you had a list of technical changes. Then it says you were updating the existing electronic database. So you put them into a database; somebody typed them in. So that was four months. Then we go to the second action you've taken in response, and you've commenced a project to acquire a new electronic database.
I have to tell you, most departments that come in here and haven't done things, that have left things undone, always start talking about trying to purchase software. They say, “We're going to get the best software program.” Software programs are the biggest excuse for not having things done. Sometimes they come to us and it takes them two years to buy a software program. I assume there must be a hundred or more software programs in the various ministries, owned by the Government of Canada, so why don't you just either take one off the shelf or take one we've already paid for and developed and adapt it? Why would it take so long?
So, first of all, did you consult with other ministries in trying to find a software program to meet your needs?
And then your commitment is that, a year later, you will have people trained and working, using this on a day-to-day basis. How many people do you have to train, and how can it take a year to train people to use it?
You have the list and you're going to put it on a database. You could probably buy Excel and use it for the list. It might not be as fancy as you'd like, but you could probably do it if you had to get it done. Why does it take a year to get everybody trained and up to speed so that it's going to take until March 2011 to get this done?