Government Operations Committee on Feb. 27th, 2019

[Paul Glover, President, Shared Services Canada]

Thank you.

In addition to the science laboratory infrastructure, there is also the data infrastructure. Increasingly, a lot of science is collaborative in nature. It's driven not just by what happens in the lab but by the sharing and interpretation of that through datasets.

We're making sure that we're laying down the infrastructure that will support the scientists in those labs who will be able to deal with large data and to collaborate and to move that within the science network, so that it's not just the facilities but the information flow between those facilities.

[Kyle Peterson, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

I'm probably out of time. Mr. Chair, am I?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

You have about 40 seconds.

[Kyle Peterson, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

I'll end on a comment.

We all have federal public servants in our ridings. We hear about some of the issues they've gone through. We're all sympathetic to and empathize with their plight. We want to thank you for this progress that's being made. Continue the hard work and do what you can do to continue to get this across the line as well with Phoenix.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you.

Before we go to our five-minute round of interventions, Minister, just for your benefit—and once again, I thank you for agreeing to stay here until we complete our full round of questions—we have about 23 minutes left. I say that for the audience, and for your staff, so they'll know exactly when to get the minister out of here, when to bring out the hook.

Mr. McCauley, we'll go to you for five minutes, please.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Thanks.

Welcome back, everyone.

Minister, when did you become aware that the director of public prosecutions declined to offer SNC a DPA?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Before we go on, Mr. McCauley, do you want to expand on that just a bit for my edification to show the connection?

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Certainly. We're also discussing the DRRs, the departmental results reports. There's stuff like this segment, I think, almost this entire page in the department's DRR, about the DPA, about the study and about the consultation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Go ahead.

[Carla Qualtrough]

Thank you.

I actually don't know, honestly, the answer to that question. Certainly, any conversations I have had with cabinet colleagues on.... I apologize. I don't know the answer to that question.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Okay.

At any time, did you ever discuss the option of the Attorney General overriding the ruling on the DPA?

[Carla Qualtrough]

The only conversations I would have had would have been in the context of kind of taking the.... We took a kind of whole-of-government approach to corporate wrongdoing, so—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

When you say “we”, who was involved in this discussion?

[Carla Qualtrough]

I will unpack that, if you don't mind. As a government, we took a very whole-of-government...so we approached corporate wrongdoing not just as a matter of the integrity regime, but we did the consultations both on the integrity regime and the—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

But when were these discussions held?

[Carla Qualtrough]

Sorry. I—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

When were these discussions held?

[Carla Qualtrough]

Well, all throughout the process, because we had to—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

In the entire year and a half, including after the ruling was made?

[Carla Qualtrough]

Sorry, I'm trying to get to the point that the conversations I would have had with cabinet colleagues on this would have been in a context of approaching our whole-of-government approach to corporate wrongdoing, which included consultations both on the integrity regime and on the potential of having a DPA instrument, if you will.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Were you ever approached by the PM, the PMO or anyone in his staff to lower the 10-year contracting ban?

[Carla Qualtrough]

I feel that that would be covered by cabinet confidence.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

So, you can't say no to that.

[Carla Qualtrough]

I will say neither yes nor no because I'm very, very rigid on my confidence in cabinet confidentiality.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Okay.

Let me ask you this. There are three companies that have been banned under the integrity regime—just three. Only one company has been allowed the administrative leave on the integrity regime. Guess what? It's SNC-Lavalin. What was special about SNC-Lavalin that it got the administrative pass, but the other three companies didn't?