What about, in addition to those enhancements, having a more strenuous and better internal check on these contracts? At any point in the discussions you've had—and this is particularly to Minister Blair—with cabinet officials or other members, have you actually looked at hiring more public servants?
We've seen in the Auditor General's report on ArriveCAN that there's a savings of six to one, that in some instances there were contracts given to private firms when that work could have been done by the public service. That probably hurts a lot of folks in our public service, who know they have the skills and who want to do the work, but it takes the Auditor General to confirm that truth.
To that point, will you confirm or commit to the fact that public servants should be doing the work and that you should just reduce the expenditure on private contracting?
I'll make one last point before you respond. Your former deputy minister, Bill Matthews, was here, and National Defence spent a whopping $5.1 billion in contracting last year. That was more than double what you paid the public service.
What explanations do you have for Canadians who are concerned about their security and who are concerned about work by the public service and savings for taxpayers?