I'm thinking of three specific cases, Mr. Marshall. These people do not want their names revealed, that the matter be made public. They are frightened. They are wondering why they have not received their pay, and they are afraid that their name might appear in the newspapers. They wonder what the department would do if that were to happen.
It would be a good idea to have a meeting with Mr. Fortier. People simply do not understand this type of situation. I assume that the reaction of the minister, a member of Parliament or a senator who did not get paid for three months would be just as vigorous. But perhaps they would be less frightened. In any case, there are issues involving job security, employability, and so on. The situation is very serious. It goes straight to the fibre of Canadian society. Citizens are affected directly. You have heard my message; I will now move on to another point.
With respect to temporary services, I have not read the three reports, but I have read the Conference Board report about temporary services that was released on September 19, 2006. We discussed the situation on November 9, 2006. One of the questions I asked at that time was about mergers, or, if you prefer, the joint venture system suggested to small- and medium-sized companies. The objective of this system was to adopt an approach in keeping with the one used by Public Works. You told me that that was not your idea at all—and here I'm referring rather to the department's idea—but when I reread the conclusions, I see that this was something the government would like to use to reduce the number of small companies.
I'm just raising one aspect of the issue, because of the five-minute time limit. The fear remains. Can you confirm certain things to reassure us, or are you actually preparing to eliminate some companies or to force some mergers? Not all mergers happen automatically.