Those were great questions. That was very impressive, Mr. Whalen.
One of the things I observe from listening to my staff talk about this is that just like Google, which started as a noun and became a verb, Phoenix, which started as a noun, is also now a verb. People who work for the government talk about being “Phoenixed”. It's part of the regular lexicon here on the Hill. “You've been Phoenixed.” It's the worst thing that can happen to you.
I want to move on to when the problems first started surfacing. I signalled ahead of time that I was going to come back to this issue of the comparison with Australia. Of course it can't be a direct comparison. We understand that. However, certainly it's close enough that the Auditor General has offered it up as a comparison.
It took this government four months to realize there was a systemic problem. For four months, the government focused on the smoke while the house burned down. In four months, Australia had a comprehensive plan in place. Sixteen months later here, we still don't have a comprehensive plan.
Tell me how it is that we are so much more incompetent in dealing with this than a government that is a fraction of the size of Canada's.