Evidence of meeting #32 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was sauvé.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:45 a.m.
Senior Director, Real Property Contracting Directorate, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes, exactly.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Is that a process by which officials make decisions themselves, depending on the amounts of money involved, without necessarily going to the minister…
9:45 a.m.
Senior Director, Real Property Contracting Directorate, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Exactly.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
9:45 a.m.
Senior Director, Real Property Contracting Directorate, Department of Public Works and Government Services
You have to understand that, for very big contracts, even the minister does not have the authority to make the decision. He has to ask Treasury Board. There is an administrative structure that allows the authority delegated to our department also to be further delegated to other levels of activity. So, in the case of this contract, an assistant deputy minister could decide.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Is the authority delegated to a committee, to one person or to several people? Could you explain that to me?
9:45 a.m.
Senior Director, Real Property Contracting Directorate, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Under the system, the authority is delegated to people at certain levels. There are a number of assistant deputy ministers and a number of directors general. We have them in our regional offices, there is a whole matrix.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
So, for this contract, a committee made the decision to award the contract to LM Sauvé, not any one person.
9:45 a.m.
Senior Director, Real Property Contracting Directorate, Department of Public Works and Government Services
As I explained earlier, a committee of the technical and contract teams made the recommendation. The recommendation came to me; I approved it, my director general approved it, and the assistant deputy minister who held the delegated authority signed off on it.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
All those people have declared and verified that there was no political interference with the committee in order to influence its decision, is that correct?
9:45 a.m.
Senior Director, Real Property Contracting Directorate, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes; there is no evidence to the contrary. Do you agree?
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Thank you, Mr. Gourde.
My thanks to all the witnesses.
Before we let you go, I believe Mr. Regan has a point of order that he wishes to raise.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think it would be a great help to the committee if these witnesses could provide us with a list of every person who was interviewed as part of the internal review, their job title as of December 2007, as well as their current position.
9:45 a.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
The only thing I would like to add to that is please could we also put on the name of Liliane Saint Pierre, who was a former staff person in that field, who is no longer there and left under mysterious circumstances.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Mr. Chair, we would just like to ensure that the witnesses might be prepared to come back. In fact, there are additional questions that are necessary for this committee to undertake our study.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
I think that's a given. Okay.
That information is a request. Can that be made available to committee?
9:45 a.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Chairman, it certainly can.
But if I could, sir, Madame Saint Pierre retired after a 35-year career with the public service. There were no mysterious circumstances. Her retirement was predicted six months in advance. I just think it's important that this comment be made.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Okay, thank you.
I want to thank the witnesses on behalf of the committee for your testimony.
I'm going to suspend for a couple of minutes while we clear the room, and then we'll proceed in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]