Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Basically, what we look at first and foremost is if the investments made in technology are aligned to the priorities of the department. We start with that. When there is a direction set in the Speech from the Throne or the budget, one of the first things

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. As a matter of fact, we do have departmental licences that we have negotiated on behalf of our department, and I believe some would apply at the government level as well.

Public Accounts committee  I would think that would be the responsibility of the Treasury Board, as opposed to my specific responsibility, but we would certainly be prepared to share the information on what we currently have and make that available.

Public Accounts committee  Although the applications that really produce the cheques--or the warrants, as we call them--are written in COBOL, an old code, they work extremely well. We still have the in-house expertise to continue to support those applications. All three--CPP, OAS, and EI--are on that platf

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Not kicking and screaming: I was actually pleased to be here today to bring some comfort, I think, to the members of the committee. What I was hoping to demonstrate in the opening remarks was that all of us have been aware of this situation—

Public Accounts committee  No. Actually, I have taken initiatives during the last three years to begin to address this issue. I think with the Auditor General's report, it has given additional support for the reality of the situation we face. It has been quite helpful. So no, we haven't been waiting. We

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, from 2007 on, in fact to this point in time, we have been making investments on an ongoing basis. The notion that I would hope we have clarity on here is that in the longer term, if my colleagues and I were not making investments and were not plan

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The $120 million expended over three years was to actually address some of the more critical infrastructure areas of the EI system. I think the $2 billion--you're right--is an aggregate of what's required for three departments to actually upgrade and refres

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much. Yes, we do know what to do with those funds, but as my colleague from Revenue Canada said, it is still a long-term process. I mentioned earlier in my opening remarks that a lot of the work we need to do to refresh our infrastructure is like the maintenance o

Public Accounts committee  Yes, absolutely. Since we have already identified the risks, because we have already invested $120 million over the last three years, we already know which infrastructure components present a priority risk and we would invest in that environment, yes.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to be here today to represent Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and to discuss and provide additional insights with respect to the recommendations laid out in chapter 1 of the Spring 2010 Report of the Auditor General of Canada.