Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It is my pleasure to table NDP-24. In fact, one of the key components of accountability is the fact that we need to keep an eye on the money, so to speak. And we need to make sure the public is going to be able to make it known when there are concerns. When they have information they want to bring forward to the government, they can do so in light of the fact that we now will have a procurement auditor when this is passed. What we intend to do with this amendment is to change the language so that can happen.
We see this in other jurisdictions, where to hold the government to account it should allow all people to be able to do that. So the intent of the amendment is to broaden who can make a complaint to the procurement auditor. If indeed we want to shine a light on accountability and use all tools we have available, I think it's important we not limit who can do that.
When we look at recent events, we've seen there were concerns about how money was spent. We've seen how, for people who might have had information, often the only thing they had available to them was going to the media or making it known to people who didn't have authority. Now we have an office that has authority, in a procurement auditor. We want to make sure that for good governance this would be available to all.
So to change and have the amendment read “to any person,” that's what this amendment would do. That's why I think it's really important. It's a small change, but an important change.