Madam Speaker, in response to my hon. colleague, I did preface my comments by saying that I too share the concern.
If we were to look at what is happening in terms of not only the technology that is out there to assist governments in what they do, but also the regulatory frameworks that are necessary to manage in a global economy, as a government, we would be selling Canadians short if we took the position that we have the in-house capacity to do absolutely everything ourselves.
I share the concern. The government has undertaken and will continue to undertake decentralization of services. In the case of my hon. colleague's region and mine, it puts good paying skilled jobs in rural areas. I too will fight erosion of transfer to the public sector if I do not think it is appropriate.
At the end of the day, we must take a look through realistic lenses at approaches that maximize the benefits of these potential partnerships.