Thank you, Mr. Warkentin.
Before I recognize Mr. Martin, I want to try to identify the gorilla in the room. Everyone is being fairly polite, but somebody in Public Works, a very well-meaning public servant, managed a process that reduced the number of suppliers of furniture from around 30-something to five, and then there were some piggyback add-ons. Not even the Japanese Imperial Army in the Second World War could have hoped to destroy a government supply chain to that extent.
There are all these furniture companies, with hundreds of employees in Canada and the U.S., and I couldn't imagine on my worst day that all these businesses could fail these little competency tests--200 pages. Out of 30-something, five of them passed the test. That comes from somebody's desk in Public Works. Public Works essentially took a wrecking ball to that supply chain.
I'm very unhappy with it, if for no other reason than that one of those suppliers is in my own riding. But there are probably furniture suppliers in a lot of ridings around this table. And we're only talking here about furniture supply, office furniture. There are hundreds of other categories of supply.
I am signalling, as one MP, that we have a problem. I don't like the look of it. I don't like the impact. There may be a very good explanation as to why Public Works is moving in a certain direction, but I don't like the look of this one.
I know you can't answer what I just said. I've identified the gorilla in the room, and I'm asking Public Works to deal with it. Other members may have similar lines of questioning.
I'll stop here and go to the person I should have recognized five minutes ago.
Mr. Martin.