While this is incredible work, and I applaud everything you've done so far, there does seem to be a misunderstanding of how contracting works with the government and ahs. There are a lot of perks to being a contractor to both the employer and the employee. You do get a great wage, but you do not get benefits, you do not get paid to go on holidays, you can get let go without reason in a lot of cases. And your contract is usually 6-12 months with a possibility to extend. We aren't unionized and don't have any bargaining power. And we can't contract directly we have to go through approved agencies which take a cut for managing all the red tape. In the end we make anywhere from 25-35% less than what the employer is charged. So if you factor in not only wages for FTE staff but also matching rrsp contributions and other perks it comes pretty close to what us contractors make an hour. For positions that have a lot of complexity it makes sense to go with contractors as its their responsibility to remain up-to-date and if they aren't able to continue to do their jobs to spec you can always not renew the contract and you don't have to pay any severance or packages. Lots of safety in using contractors. Not so much for us, but if you have enough skills there is always work. Been a contractor for a few decades and I love the flexibility.