Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for being here, gentlemen.
When I heard Mr. Hollands mention the need for additional conditionality to be imposed by the federal government on municipal spending, I was reminded of the letter I got from the mayors of several cities across the country when the government was erecting 9,000 billboards on the economic action plan and forcing those cities, in fact, to pay for the billboards. I thought that was an interesting example of how at least the power exists to impose conditionality. I don't think it was the right way to go, but....
I want to go back to where my colleague from the NDP left off on how to improve the situation. The federal government is the largest employer in the country, the largest landlord in the country, and the largest procurer of goods and services in the country. There have been a lot of changes to the federal procurement system, which have been met with very, very mixed reviews about efficiency.
Long-term contracts of very large sizes are forcing your CFIB members out of the business because of the subcontracting that's going on, making it very difficult. I've seen no evidence from the office you mentioned, the office for small and medium-sized businesses, or from the work you've done, Mr. Kelly, that it has actually been more efficient and that there's been more value for money for Canadian taxpayers.
Let's just proceed on the basis that we're not talking about telling provinces and municipalities what to do. Let's just pretend we have a responsibility. As the old biblical maxim goes, “Physician, heal thyself.” What three things should the federal government do right now to actually ensure that the money it spends on an annual basis through procurement of all kinds is done more efficiently and is better value for money for Canadians?