Government Operations Committee on Oct. 28th, 2010

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

And you were within that and everything was fine?

[Ray Boisvert]

Yes, that's correct.

[Sylvain St-Laurent]

Of the million dollars that we received, basically most of the resources we had were basically for the processing of people at the Toronto airport. We budgeted for a small group, though, for intelligence, making sure that we could do the screening and everything from an advance perspective. But there were no additional resources placed at the border itself to prevent.... It was a normal operation from a border perspective.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

My last question is to Mr. MacNeil, then, on whether or not there were any foreign nationals picked up or who were part of any of the activities that were causing the disruptions.

[C/Supt Alphonse MacNeil]

Yes, there were, but I can't comment as to who they were or where they were from. That would be something for the Toronto Police Service to comment on when they're available.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You still have a minute and a half.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Oh, good. Let's keep going. I'll give my time to my colleague Mr. Holder.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Thanks very much.

Sometimes one of the challenges you get is that we always interject and don't give you the opportunity to respond fully.

Superintendent MacNeil, one of the things you had an opportunity to start talking about was the fencing. You said you'd received some of the fencing from Montebello. I got the sense you were reusing it. I guess what I'm asking is, what has been recyclable and what is the status of it now, please?

[C/Supt Alphonse MacNeil]

The Montebello fence was available to us and we retained it so we can use it in future major events. The other fencing we utilized was on a leased basis, so we're not going to have that available to us later on. We leased it mainly because just the cost of storage of something like all those kilometres of fence would be huge and we may never need that much again. But the Montebello fence has been very useful to us, and it proved itself in this case, in that we were able to use two kilometres of it again in Huntsville.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

So while at one level you had to purchase new fencing, you certainly recycle for the needs that you have. I'm not sure that people appreciate that in fact there are a number of items you have that you recycle or ensure that you get dollars back by returning, or in whatever fashion—

[C/Supt Alphonse MacNeil]

We have a major event storage area where we will store any equipment that, as I said earlier, has a long shelf life and that we can keep and store. It can be utilized again in future major events.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Madam Coady.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Thank you very much.

I understand that this is the last round, so I'd be happy to share my time with my colleagues. I'll take a couple of minutes and then I'll share with my opposition colleagues.

I want to go back to what my colleague Geoff Regan was asking you about the budget assumptions. We all established at the very beginning of our morning that there was a plan and that there were budget assumptions with that plan, and each of you has undertaken to provide this committee with your budget assumptions. I know that we will ask the Toronto police to also give us that information.

Just based on the OPP, for example, concerning your $84 million, you were able to tell us that there was a lot there for human resources and infrastructure and those kinds of costs. What we're looking for basically is what the breakdown was.

I want to turn to a question that Mr. Holder just asked about the disposal of assets. You talked about having a storage facility holding a lot of these assets. I noted, when we got the breakdown of the $200 million—and, of course, that was only one very small portion of the $1.2 billion that was spent—that there were a lot of computers, a lot of smaller assets that were purchased. You said you have some in storage. Of course, you wouldn't put all your computers in storage.

Did you dispose of any of these assets? If so, how?

[Alain Séguin]

Thank you.

For those types of assets that have a limited shelf life, we would put those into operations and credit back the cost to the event.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Do you know how much credit back you're going to be giving?

[Alain Séguin]

We're in the process of doing that; I don't have that right now. We're in the process of factoring--

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

So you credit back the cost of computers, the things you will normally use in the course of business.

[Alain Séguin]

That's right. We credit back to the G-8.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Thank you for that. We'll look for that credit.

I know we've established that having those two sites was very expensive.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Your two minutes have gone already.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

My two minutes are gone?

Thank you. I will hand it over to Mr. Vincent.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

It is now over to Ms. Bourgeois and Mr. Vincent.

Mr. Vincent, you have the floor.

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I saw that Aramark got the contract. I wondered why I was seeing a bill for $55 million and the name Aramark. Eventually, I realized that an American company had been awarded the contract, worth more than $55 million, to house and feed 4,500 officers. The contract was awarded without a proper bidding process.

Did other companies bid on the contract?

[Alain Séguin]

Yes, a bidding process was held, and a few companies submitted bids. As I mentioned, it started on December 3. We—