It would depend on the facts of the case. If there were—and let's use our imaginations here—a wide variety of organizations, and if there were time to do it, there might very well be a formal competitive process. There could be a call for proposals in a formal competitive process. There's been a wide variety.
By the way, the WE charity was not the only third party the government turned to during the pandemic crisis to support these public objectives. It turned to the Canadian Red Cross, the United Way Centraide and other organizations to provide the expertise and the reach that the public service does not itself have. Let's bear in mind that our system may have the public service as central at the federal, provincial and municipal levels in providing public services, but it's part of a complex system of civil society organizations supporting these objectives. The public service may be admirable, but it's not everything. This is a normal part of doing business.
That is not to say, Chair, that the nature of the committee's inquiry is trivial or should not be followed up, but this is a standard means of doing business. In this case, the public service professionally concluded that this organization was best placed, and indeed uniquely placed for reasons I mentioned earlier in our meeting, to deliver these objectives, and all of the decisions associated with it were consistent with that conclusion.