National Defence committee  The decisions have not yet been taken, but minimizing the impact on military readiness has to be a driving force behind the decision. That process is still under way, so I can't offer you more there.

National Defence committee  I have a couple of points here. I expect that people picture an access to information function where it's one person or one team who has access to all the information. However, the reality is that, when the request comes in, it goes to the ATIP office and it gets dispersed for the people who are relevant to search their own records.

National Defence committee  No, it may be for a number of factors. I can't give you a really good answer without speculating. ATIP volumes have increased exponentially, so the pressure on the people who do this type of function has certainly gone up. It may be a matter of less time to spend on these things and of feeling rushed.

National Defence committee  Life would be easier if there were more people doing that job, but like we've already discussed here today, it becomes a question of where you put your priorities. It's military readiness versus ATIP versus support for families. Those are some very tough discussions that we are having.

National Defence committee  To make that more real, when I go and visit bases and wings, I hear “housing” and I hear “medical care”. Your average stint might be two or three years in a location before you have to move. If you picture a world where you have a child who needs a specialist, it takes some time to line that up.

National Defence committee  I think it depends on the geographic location. There are flexibilities and different models that private sectors have used to fill the gap, but it does beg the question of whether they can find people if in some cases they're paying less. In some cases, they're paying more hourly, but the benefits are not the same.

National Defence committee  Certainly. When you're in negotiations or potential negotiations or discussions with industry about what it would take to change production, an NDA is very standard practice, because you may be having different conversations with different companies. That was the genesis for that—

National Defence committee  Sometimes plans change. I can dig into the details in this one, but you often talk to industry or talk to employees, think something is possible and find out there's a delay. In the case of Ukraine, urgency is job one in terms of finding the quickest way to ship available ammunition.

National Defence committee  There are a couple of points there. When I have engaged with union leadership, this is usually the first issue we talk about. The most significant change that's been put in place since the report is that, when there is a proposal to change the service model from public servants to an outsourcing, it needs to be supported by a business case.

National Defence committee  I'll start, Mr. Chair. The way our funding model works is that the organization absorbs the first $100 million in operation costs every year. For everything beyond that, we are reimbursed by the centre. There is no direct flow of additional resources. Am I allowed to ask the chief of the defence staff a question?

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. Yes, we can send those figures to the committee to better explain the number of external contracts. One thing I would like to emphasize is that we've gone through the examination of contracts. I think there is an assumption by many people that the external contracts are all of the management and consulting firm types that we've talked about at previous committees.

National Defence committee  I'll start, Mr. Chair, and the chief will chime in. The conversation about upgrading production of ammunition—155-millimetre or other—is a long process that requires investment. There are discussions under way about potentially investing to upgrade production, but it is not a quick fix.

National Defence committee  There are two things, Mr. Chair. Number one—and the chief may have to help me here—is that there are variants of the 155, and the production of 155s in Canada is not, I'll call it, the most desirable variant. When you talk about upgrading production, we're also talking about new machinery, etc., to make a different type of 155.

Government Operations committee  The results of the audit at National Defence revealed challenges, in some cases, with the completeness of documentation on the file. That is a very normal finding. It is something that requires constant reminding. We will be doing more checks to make sure that the completeness is better.

Government Operations committee  I would like to say two things. Regarding National Defence...