Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for being present. Although you are many, I hope we can keep up with the information that gets supplied today.
This committee is concerned. Earlier this week, we passed a motion.
It expressed:
decades of unchecked spending on outsourcing—which accelerated in 2006—has cost Canadians tens of billions of dollars while creating a shadow public service that works alongside the real public service—but without the same hiring practices or transparency requirements
If it's in relation to outsourcing in Canada, I think the Auditor General may be familiar with my position. For example, we heard, a few weeks ago, in relation to the National Capital Commission, remarks on the reality that, since 2018, they've had to take on private contracting to try to make up the huge deficits that have compounded within their ministry due to government underfunding of critical services. It's beginning to paint a picture for me. Audit after audit has begun. I begin to clearly see a continued pattern of outsourcing, which is ballooning the costs while also diminishing our public service.
I'll turn to recommendation 7.37 of the modernizing information systems audit.
It states:
In coordination with [SSC] and in consultation with departments and agencies, [TBS] should finalize and implement a comprehensive strategy for addressing the information technology modernization needs of departments and agencies. The strategy should
among other things
address the scarcity of personnel with the needed skills to support information technology modernization...
My question is for the deputy auditor general. How severe is the shortage of qualified personnel within the public service?