Mr. Speaker, last Friday I hosted an information breakfast on the year 2000 problem in my riding of Markham. About 100 people joined me to learn how some of the Canadian leading firms are addressing this issue. Whether it was listening to Gary Baker from the Arthur Andersen consulting group, Al Aubry from IBM or Rod Morris from CIBC, breakfast attendees were reassured that the private sector by and large is ready for the millennium bug.
Unfortunately the federal government cannot make that same claim. According to the most recent auditor general's report various important government systems remained at risk as of last June. Furthermore the auditor general concluded that some essential government services may be interrupted at the start of year 2000.
As this is year 2000 awareness week I urge the federal government to follow the lead of the private sector to take stronger and more effective action so that Canadians can easily rest assured about indispensable public services.