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.
5:10 p.m.
NDP
Peggy Nash NDP Parkdale—High Park, ON
No, I don't think we've really gotten a full response on that.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
5:10 p.m.
NDP
Peggy Nash NDP Parkdale—High Park, ON
I think you're saying that whether or not I'm comfortable, my time has expired.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Just so I understand how your mandate came to be, with regard to domestic procurement controversies, did your organization assume the mandate that had previously been covered by the Procurement Review Board?
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
All right. And with the coming into force of the procurement ombudsman, it's been a while since I've read the Accountability Act--we actually went through it line by line in a similar committee--but what enforcement powers does he or she have to their decisions regarding procurement disputes? Or are they simply recommendations that are made public?
5:10 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
I'm sorry, but, again, I can't speak to that because I don't deal with that. I can only speak to matters that fall within the mandate of the tribunal.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
So you don't see any change at all in the way your tribunal functions as a result of the coming into force of the procurement ombudsman?
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Okay. You said that your decisions are appealable to the Federal Court. Are those appeals de novo, or are they just reviews that inspect whether there are errors in fact or law?
May 17th, 2007 / 5:10 p.m.
Reagan Walker General Counsel, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Thank you for the question.
It's limited to judicial review.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
It's judicial review. So it's just errors in fact and law that—
5:10 p.m.
General Counsel, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
It's limited to errors of law, but including whether or not there was sufficient evidence to support the factual conclusions, for example, being considered an error of law. Basically, it's a determination of whether or not the tribunal was patently unreasonable in reaching a conclusion based on the evidence before it, whether the tribunal strayed beyond its jurisdiction, and the usual types of judicial reviews that quasi-judicial tribunals are subjected to.
It's the Federal Court of Appeal, by the way, not the Federal Court.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Thank you for the distinction.
So in layman's terms, it determines whether or not the tribunal made a specific error. It does not start from scratch.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
The multilateral agreement on procurement is the basis upon which your tribunal operates. Is that correct?
5:15 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
No, we operate on the basis of domestic legislation, which refers back to the international agreements. There's a CITT Act.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Okay. Can you list the agreements, then, the legislation is predicated upon?
5:15 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Well, it covers the obligations that are found originally in the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, now subsumed by the NAFTA, the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Government Procurement, and the Agreement on Internal Trade, which is not an international agreement.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
5:15 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian International Trade Tribunal
The Agreement on Internal Trade is an agreement between the federal and provincial governments.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Was the multilateral agreement on procurement done under the rubric of WTO?
