Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank both of you for being here today and stepping up to the plate in a time of need. You exemplify true Canadian spirit—no pun intended—and you should be proud. I believe your testimony here today, in addition to the CBC article that came out in December, is very important. I hope it will further illuminate some very serious problems in the government's procurement practices that are consistently leaving Canadians in the dark, unless they happen to be close friends of the Prime Minister.
When the pandemic hit, he recognized the need for hand sanitizer and pivoted alcohol distilleries to meet the demand. Many distillers made and distributed sanitizer for free. While Canadian distillers were working around the clock disrupting their businesses and trying to fulfill a need for their fellow Canadians, the government was spending more than $570 million on hand sanitizer outside the country and later signed contracts with large companies here but ignored bids from these distillers who had already been producing for months.
In the CBC article, you were quoted as saying, “It really is like a sucker punch in the gut.” Can you explain what you meant by that?