Evidence of meeting #36 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 know.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:15 a.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
You took the low bid and the high bid, and you averaged them out and divvied it up between the two.
9:15 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
No, that's not the way.... Seriously, Mr. Martin, you have this wrong. This was a pitch to the department, Mr. Marshall and his committee, in terms of how they would approach the project, how they would execute the project.
Remember, we were selling up to nine buildings, and the department needed to know that these banks had the ability to go out there and seek buyers and get the best price for taxpayers.
9:20 a.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Well, we didn't get the best price, because you awarded this work to RBC when they weren't in the running. That's our information, Mr. Fortier.
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
No, Mr. Martin, you've got this upside down.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Mr. Martin, you're pretty well out of time.
Mr. Fortier, a brief response.
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
Listen, it would take us too long if I had to explain to Mr. Martin every time how the process was set up.
Basically, we were trying to find buyers for the building. There were more than 15 buyers, if not 20, who came in for the lot. So for Mr. Martin to suggest that we went with the highest bidder, yes, we actually sold it to the highest bidder. This is how an auction works. You get the highest bidder to pay for the buildings.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
I'm a vice-chair at RBC Capital Markets.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Were you at all involved in contract attribution for the renovations or other matters?
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Were you at all involved in contract attribution during your time as minister?
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
No.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
But you have said that you made the decision, as minister, to basically divulge the best offer, in the case just discussed with Mr. Martin, to a second bidder.
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
No, it wasn't a bidder. These were banks that wanted to advise the government. They'd been ranked by the deputy from one to ten, let's say. I don't know how many banks pitched, but let's say ten banks pitched. So they were ranked one to ten, and we decided that we were going to take two banks.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
No, I did have confidence.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
So why did you decide that you had to have a second bank—RBC?
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
Because this was a very large assignment, a very significant assignment, one of the largest asset sales we've run in Canada, as you know, Mr. Regan, over the past 15 to 20 years.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
But you said you had confidence in BMO. Why couldn't BMO do the whole thing? I mean, this is a pretty large organization.
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
We wanted two banks. We wanted two teams advising on the transaction. This was a complex matter, and as I said, this is very common in transactions of this nature and particularly given the amounts that are involved.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
So you want us to believe that you were involved in that process, in changing the way that was being done, but that you weren't involved in the contract attribution in relation to the renovations?
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
Mr. Regan, you know very well I wasn't involved in changing anything. The process provided that we could hire up to two banks--up to two banks. We hired two banks.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
You were the one who made the decision to move, really, from one bank to two.
9:20 a.m.
Former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, As an Individual
Absolutely not: this was discussed with the deputy, and we discussed it together, and we decided that we wanted two banks.