Evidence of meeting #39 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was land.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Thank you for clarifying. I apologize for not catching that the first time.
The short answer is yes. I think there is information available to the staff, including from Treasury Board Secretariat, in terms of the distinctions between those two types of emergencies. We operate within those parameters.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Are you well versed on the Conflict of Interest Act as it relates to procurement?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I'm fairly well versed.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Fairly well. Perfect.
Section 4 of the Conflict of Interest Act provides the following:
a public office holder is in a conflict of interest when he or she exercises an official power, duty or function that provides an opportunity to further his or her private interests or those of his or her relatives or friends or to improperly further another person’s private interests.
According to that same September 27 Radio-Canada article, it was identified that potentially there was a public officer holder involved in this. For the record, was a public office holder involved in the allocation of contracts to Mr. Guay?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
In the allocation of contracts with a public office holder...?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Not that I'm aware of, but I will want to clarify for the committee that while I worked in the procurement branch previously, I'm not there at this point. I haven't been there for six months.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Within procurement it was about four years.
NDP
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Okay. Perfect.
In your opinion, given the reporting on donations to both Liberal and Conservative parties, do you believe the allocation of contracts to Mr. Guay creates a conflict of interest or a public perception of conflict, given his political donations?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
What I can tell you is that political donations are not something that's explored as part of the procurement process.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I will leave that for the committee to decide.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
What due diligence do you do, then, on contracting, with regard to potential conflicts of interest, given what's before us here today?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Again, to my knowledge, donating to a political party by an individual or a business is not cause for not awarding a contract.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
At what point would a contribution be material enough for it to be considered a conflict?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
In terms of materiality.... Do you mean dollar amounts?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I wouldn't know the answer to that question, sir.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Okay.
Mr. Chair, I would just state that some of the ambiguity around, obviously, this process....
I'll close by stating that I'm coming to this with an open mind. I want to get to the facts. If we don't have the facts in terms of what the potential breaches were....
I'm not interested in doing this for a long time, but I'm really keenly interested in making sure we have a clear understanding of what took place.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Pat Kelly
Thank you, Mr. Green. You're out of time.
We are on the second round now. It will be five minutes for Mr. Kurek.
Go ahead, Mr. Kurek.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I think that in the debate that led up to the adoption of this motion, a significant amount of time was spent on the differences between what we're trying to nail down at this committee—and that has to do with the situation surrounding contracts—and what others wanted to make it about, which was the immigration situation. There is a big difference here. That certainly is an important subject, and I note Mr. Moor's comments about encouraging legal entry to the country. It's unfortunate that our Prime Minister has suggested otherwise at different points in time.
However, we're digging down here to the integrity of contracts. When $28 million has been awarded, it is a significant sum of taxpayers' dollars that have been spent, largely without competitive contracting.
To those at Public Works, was there ever a request made by someone outside of the evaluators to suggest that the emergency exemption should be applied?
Acting Regional Director General, Quebec Region, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I can answer that question. To my knowledge, there was no interference by anyone in the awarding of the contracts or leases.