Thank you, Mr. Chair. My questions are again for witness Reza.
There was some mention today about a potential lack of training or following of rules. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada has been talking about this for years—how the knowledge base, especially as it relates to IT, is eroding within the public service and there is more and more reliance on outsourcing.
It said:
Government outsourcing, especially outsourcing of IT personnel, is costing Canadians billions of dollars each year. From time to time, outsourcing may be necessary to augment staff compliments or bring in external skills and expertise. But years of unchecked spending on outsourcing has created a shadow public service of consultants operating alongside the government workforce.
I would add that it goes on to say there is gender inequality across Canada's public service. It said:
In IT, lucrative contracts are doled out to a male-dominant industry that has notoriously struggled with gender equity. While at the same time, lower paid and precarious temporary service contracts are disproportionately filled by women.
What I want to ask is how the hollowing out of expertise in the public service has affected the value for Canadian taxpayers.
Also, how do these “gentlemen's agreements”, as I call them in Parliament, dominate how contracts are handed out and doled out within the public service?