Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon, gentlemen. You heard about this in the news; it had quite an impact on those in the region. It even became a topic for question period when Gilles Duceppe mentioned that light bulbs had been installed in federal government buildings to the tune of $5,000. Another member, Marcel Proulx, asked why the government had spent $36,000 in a year on extra cleaning costs for a minister's office. Thomas Mulcair argued that paying $2,000 for leafy plants and $1,000 for a doorbell in those buildings—that is getting very expensive—was ridiculous. The Prime Minister, the Right Hon. Stephen Harper, himself, said that the costs did not appear to be at all supportable. Every party, everyone, was in agreement, more or less saying the same thing.
As for myself, on September 2, 2009, I asked Mr. Paradis, Minister of Public Works and Government Services at the time—and I sent a letter to Ms. Ambrose, his replacement, on March 15, 2010—about the awarding of maintenance contracts for federal buildings. The committee heard from Mr. Beaulieu on April 26. You may have seen the documents.
One of the things in all this that remains very unclear, to say the least, very obscure, to say the most, is that the bidding process is not open to the public, but done by invitation, so that small and medium-sized businesses have a chance to become subcontractors for Public Works and Government Services Canada. Some bidding processes are open to the public, and others are done by invitation. That seems to be the problem. At least it is in the eyes of the contractors I have met with. Let us discuss that issue first, the bidding process.