Human Resources committee  Let me give a response to that one, then I'll ask Morgan and David to comment on it. I think, from an information gathering point of view, the sectoral studies were good. They were timely, and they addressed certain issues. As we look forward, whether these sectoral groups are there or not, these studies can still be done.

Human Resources committee  I think there is a clear funding issue in starting these kinds of studies. There are several groups. One of them, David Ticoll, is here. There are some other groups out there. ICTC is also looking at some of these studies. All of these groups do meaningful work in terms of either delivering programs or creating assessments of what kinds of jobs are needed for various sectors.

Human Resources committee  We would actually welcome providing that kind of input to the government on how this should be done. When we talk to our members, this is one issue that comes up constantly. The other one that always comes up is that we always tend to manage by exception. There are some companies that would be on the exception side, maybe stretching it a little beyond what the bounds are, and then there should be some consequences.

Human Resources committee  The only comment I would make is that the skill set need is very fluid. I think that's the biggest thing you need to come to grips with as you start looking at some sort of recommendation. The technology need is evolving very rapidly. If you're looking backwards in terms of what the NOC code was and the specific shortage in a skill set, 18 months to two years down the road it will change dramatically in terms of how the companies need the technology.

Human Resources committee  Maybe I'll start with the first question you asked, and it's an important one: why is there so much unemployment out there? We're saying there's a skills shortage. In the ICT sector the jobs tend to go where the skills are. If the available skill pull is not what you need, your jobs are going to migrate out, and that's what's happening.

Human Resources committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and honourable members. I'm very pleased to be here. Thank you for inviting ITAC to this forum. It's a very important discussion that we're having regarding skills and talent. As you know, ITAC represents the Canadian technology and ICT industry. Our membership is over 350 companies across Canada.

Government Operations committee  Thank you again for having me here.

Government Operations committee  I think that varies. Often they are fixed-cost, but that does vary by project.

Government Operations committee  Having the public sector running this complex IT organization over this long has yielded a very significant pool of talent that resides as government employees. That talent pool is probably not readily available to a lot of small and medium companies if you look around today, so that talent pool needs to be harnessed.

Government Operations committee  I think on this one I'll respond that it's probably more a myth, to some degree, than it is real. When you have a smaller system, you are more vulnerable, in large part because most of the time you are on an older version of software. If you have a hundred different e-mails, I can almost assure you that only one is up to date and the other ninety-nine are six generations behind and therefore more vulnerable.

Government Operations committee  Thank you. There are a few things. I think I mentioned them as I went through my comments and the questions and answers, so I'll start from the top.

Government Operations committee  The issue is that the major risk at the beginning, obviously, is not having proper planning put in place. There's a very significant amount of risk that is run if you don't have a plan. The other risk along the way is in terms of how you measure the project and how you measure the outcomes.

Government Operations committee  Anybody who touches IT would be our members. From a carrier point of view, it would be large carriers to small and new carriers. From a technology supplier point of view, it could be from IBM to small software companies. They're all over the place.

Government Operations committee  ITAC is all private sector. Our total membership is somewhere near 400 companies. It's fully funded by the industry.

Government Operations committee  Globally, I think the IT market is still showing reasonable growth year over year. If you were to talk to most of the multinationals operating in Canada, they would probably say that the Canadian market outperformed in terms of year-over-year growth for their financials compared to most of the other geographies, if you leave out the emerging countries.