Government Operations committee  Thank you very much for the latitude your question allows, sir. As I've mentioned, one of the most effective deterrents is a reporting mechanism, a whistleblower hotline. Now, one of the things we have to realize is that when a fraudster considers whether he's going to commit

Government Operations committee  In this case, I was talking about separating the responsibilities within the procurement and purchasing process. For instance, I talked about the individual who developed the specifications not having the authority to make changes to the contractor database. I also talked about t

Government Operations committee  Bid-rigging is something specific. It is a situation where the contractors who have been asked to bid on a contract will agree among themselves which one is going to get it. It's a form of anti-competitive practice. I don't have any reason to believe that this was the case here.

Government Operations committee  Apart from the meeting with the assistant, not really. You remember that I did allude to saying that you're going to pay off my political debt by holding a fundraiser for me.

Government Operations committee  This is one of the things that should have been looked into before the request for proposals went out. This should have been done when you had the short list. Do the due diligence, and indeed, make sure that you aren't going to be putting your foot into that kind of trap.

Government Operations committee  All I know is what I read in the media. The only evidence I have in that regard is the same that you would have, sir.

Government Operations committee  Thank you. As alluded to earlier, the matter of whistleblowing and strengthening the whistleblowing piece would go a good way toward helping the situation we now have. I realize that we have the integrity commissioner, but also I believe the Auditor General recently found that t

Government Operations committee  If the committee will indulge me, I can speak hypothetically, divorcing ourselves from any particular instance. Suppose that a contractor believed I had political influence--which I certainly do not--and came to me and asked me to arrange for a contract to be directed to him, an

Government Operations committee  Once again, you're asking me for a legal opinion, which I am afraid I'm not qualified to give. If the gentleman who gave that testimony was qualified to give it, then of course I would accept it.

Government Operations committee  I haven't been following the case in any great detail. While it's certainly possible, I could also see how it could very well have been done without any political interference. So I would need more evidence.

Government Operations committee  I am not sure what you're referring to, sir. Are you referring to change orders that were issued after the contract was finalized?

Government Operations committee  Very briefly, I would have to have more information about the nature and extent of the changes in order to answer that question.

Government Operations committee  I believe they do to the limited extent that they can, but if we take a look at fraud detection and fraud reporting overall, one of the things we find is that the internal mechanisms aren't really the best ones around and the most effective ones around. If I could direct your a

Government Operations committee  Well, certainly employee rotation is a good policy in principle. What happens often in practice is that you lose out on the benefit of people's expertise, so you have to weigh out whether the gain is worth the loss, and this is a judgment that management has to make.

Government Operations committee  That's correct, sir.