Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some time ago, a draft document entitled the Knowledge Management Strategy was prepared for the Informatics Policy Committee for the Financial Management Board Secretariat. It is my understanding the document was approved in principle last fall by FMB and is now set to go to the board for final approval this month. I have been told after that, it will be released publicly.

I have a number of concerns, Mr. Speaker, with the process that has taken place. Right now, this is a draft document, yet I am told that some of the recommendations in it are already being implemented. This in spite of the fact it has not officially seen the light of day nor been exposed to public review or comment.

Mr. Speaker, the document recommends centralizing informatics. We used to have a centralized system. That failed to meet the needs of specific departments and they therefore moved to decentralize the system by devolution. The draft document also recommends the implementation of an Office of the Chief Information Officer. The interim office was approved and I am concerned that there has already been an advertisement out asking for proposals to implement a technology service centre.

Mr. Speaker, while I understand bulk purchasing is also a recommendation, I now hear that individual departments are already being told that hardware and software licensing is to be done at a central level. Mr. Speaker, this is being done without a procedure in place as to how it should take place.

Mr. Speaker, I understand the document has been released to some third parties, yet it has not even been reviewed by the Information Technology Advisory Committee for government departments. These are the people who are supposed to provide technical advice to the senior management sub-committee, the Informatics Policy Committee, who are ultimately responsible for the document.

Mr. Speaker, there are likely other flaws in the recommendations that if scrutinized by the right people, might not hold up. If this is in fact a draft document, we should not be seeing the recommendations being put into place already. I call on the Minister responsible to immediately release the document to the public and to allow a period for comment on the Knowledge Management Strategy recommendations. Mr. Speaker, before we move to adopt the recommendations, let us make sure they stand up to public scrutiny. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause