Evidence of meeting #52 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was agreements.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, witnesses. It's good to meet you.
I have a couple of questions on attachment two on page seven, about the number of complaints over the last five years.
There have been 330 total complaints, of which 63 were found to be valid. What was the total dollar penalty attached to that, or remedy attached to that, and who paid it?
5 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Do you mind if my colleague answers?
5 p.m.
Randy Heggart Director of Procurement Review, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
It would be difficult to give a total on that, each individual one. They range so much and we don't have an accumulated statistic on the total value of the procurements.
5 p.m.
Conservative
5 p.m.
Director of Procurement Review, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
We're talking a total value of about $1 billion, probably.
5:05 p.m.
Director of Procurement Review, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Sorry, I'm talking about the value of the procurement itself, not of the--
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Yes, that did sound like a lot for penalties.
Who pays that remedy? Obviously, it depends, I guess, on the finding of who's found guilty, if you will. Do the taxpayers pick up any of that?
5:05 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Well, sometimes. The recommendation of the tribunal could be to retender a procurement if the contract has not yet been issued. So although the value may be high, the actual monetary compensation.... We may not be recommending monetary compensation.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
And is it a mix of Canadian companies and foreign companies in that 63?
5:05 p.m.
Director of Procurement Review, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Probably the majority would be Canadian companies.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Director of Procurement Review, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Same sort of ratio, the 95%, yes.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Do you have any relationship with a similar body in the U.S.?
5:05 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Not at the level of the members of the tribunal. Because we are an independent, quasi-judicial body, we operate within the confines of the Canadian legislation.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
It would probably be counterproductive to have any kind of informal arrangement, I would think, but I'll leave that.
With the new procurement ombudsman, how do you see his or her duties interfacing with yours? How do you see that sorting out as a working relationship?
5:05 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
As I said earlier, our responsibilities are defined by statute. Those will not change in any way. The purpose of the tribunal's procurement mandate is, as I said, to ensure that procurements are conducted in a fair, open, and transparent manner. I imagine that the new body will have a similar mandate.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Everybody's trying to do the same thing under the Federal Accountability Act, to procure an ombudsman in the International Trade Tribunal.
5:05 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
But our mandate will not change.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
NDP
Peggy Nash NDP Parkdale—High Park, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon to the witnesses.
I have a question to see if I understand this correctly. As I understand it, the agreement on international trade has a dispute settlement process to handle AIT procurement disputes.
