Public Accounts committee  If you don't mind, I'll take the question, Minister. As I mentioned—

Public Accounts committee  No. If I may, Mr. Chair, Mr. Girard was reporting directly to me, and Mr. Girard was the CIO for the Treasury Board Secretariat as a department.

Public Accounts committee  I can take this question, Minister. As normal practice and part of the responsibilities of contracting with the Government of Canada, public servants may meet with the vendors community to discuss ongoing contracts and other subject matter items related to those contracts. Mr.

Public Accounts committee  When employees get their security clearance, there are some criteria, and obtaining a valid security clearance is a condition of employment in the public service. Therefore, should the findings be founded, it could really happen.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much for the question. Yes, it isn't a practice that we encourage. I can confirm that we have the documents—

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely. Some situations mean that we have no choice but to award a contract by mutual agreement, in other words, non‑competitively. That said, we have the necessary justifications for each of these contracts that have been awarded. If it's the will of the committee, I would

Public Accounts committee  For the TBS, 52 employees have dual employment; 165 employees, including 40 executives—

Public Accounts committee  We have none who have dual employment within the Government of Canada as contractors or—

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, the information you have in the public accounts is up until March 31, 2023, so—

Government Operations committee  We will work with PSPC to determine the gap between what is provided in the public accounts and—

Government Operations committee  It will be used to hire people.

Government Operations committee  The people are already there. It’s money we need to offset some of these people’s salaries. If I’m not mistaken, it’s around 18 FTEs. A large part of that is to pay those people’s salaries, not to pay for professional services.

Government Operations committee  That’s correct.

Government Operations committee  Some of it is used to pay employees’ salaries, but some of it is used to pay for technology licenses or to hire consultants who provide very specialized services that aren’t offered by anyone within the department or anywhere else in the public service right now. So it’s a combin

Government Operations committee  The funds you see in Supplementary Estimates (B) for the Treasury Board Secretariat are being used to reimburse class action plaintiffs. We have not yet disbursed those funds to the plaintiffs, as we are awaiting a decision from the Quebec Court of Appeal. Once that decision is r