Government Operations Committee on Nov. 16th, 2020

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Minister.

That ends the first round. We will now enter the second round.

We will start with Mr. Paul-Hus for five minutes.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Madam Minister, I know you are new to politics. I don't know how long you have been with the Liberal Party, but you know that, for us, the Liberal Party often equals corruption. When I say “corruption”, I'm talking about the schemes used to give contracts to everyone.

Do you feel that Frank Baylis' contract was awarded behind your back? Everyone is fully aware that a scheme was put in place. They created the company FTI Professional Grade, which then gave the contract to Mr. Baylis. I want to know whether you feel that they got one over on you.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I'm not sure how to translate “they got one over on you”, but I appreciate the translation.

The interpretation was very good and I understood the question.

I want to say a few things about this narrative. It is interesting that the opposition continues to push this narrative when the CEO of FTI, with whom the government has a contract, Rick Jamieson, is a well-known Conservative supporter and donor.

As Mr. Jamieson is so close to the Conservative Party, perhaps he can answer the questions about whom they chose to—

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Madam Minister. That's the answer you gave in question period. These are the talking points you were given.

As I said in the first round of questions, I have the document confirming that the Government of Canada did business with Mr. Baylis; a scheme was used. My question was simply whether or not—

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

Honestly, it is shocking to hear such words coming out of the mouth of an hon. member. The word “corruption” is not a word used lightly. He is saying things with no evidence or with no one knowing what might motivate such statements. I am very disappointed with the member's behaviour and his statements. I urge him to reconsider what he said.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Thank you, Steven.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Mr. MacKinnon. The clock was stopped. We will continue with Mr. Paul-Hus. I would ask that when posing questions, everybody appropriately respect everybody.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair—

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, a point of order once again.

I think we have adopted a certain collegiality here. When someone makes statements with no evidence, dropping words like “corruption”, “scheme” of corruption, “Liberal Party equals corruption”, that is low. We cannot condone that, Mr. Chair. I am asking you to intervene with regard to those statements, which are not acceptable in the solemn work that we do in the committee, and which are made before a minister who comes to ask us to approve her estimates.

I would ask the hon. member not to repeat such statements. It is disgraceful and dishonourable for him to speak like that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Mr. MacKinnon, for your comments. I will take that under advisement. I have asked everybody, and that includes you as well, to respect the words you use when you speak to the minister or any witness in this committee. I ask all members to respect that.

Mr. Paul-Hus, you have three and a half minutes.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In the interest of Canadians, regardless of how we ask the questions, we have to consider that we are talking about billions of dollars being spent and that this raises very important questions. We have a right to ask them and we are not going to let the Liberals answer whatever they want, however they want.

Now, Madam Minister, I would like to ask you another question.

When your Deputy Minister, Mr. Matthews, came before the committee on July 23, he said this: “When we were in sole source, we were looking at some key criteria: established supply chains, ability to deliver quickly at volume, and already in the business.”

The largest medical supply contract in Canadian history was given to Proline Advantage for medical gowns. I want to know whether or not this company is well established in the medical field.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

This company is a small business and ensured that their gowns were made available as soon as possible by renting the largest plane in the world until all of their gowns were delivered.

This company stepped up at the beginning of the crisis when this country had no gowns, gloves, masks and the like. We need to respect the ability of small and large businesses across this country to step up for Canadians.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Minister, I understand what you are telling me, but my question was whether or not the company has expertise in the medical field. We are talking about $371 million.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

A large number of Quebec businesses did step up for this endeavour. We heard from over 25,000 companies on our buy and sell website, but with respect to your specific question, I will ask my deputy minister to provide further details.

[Bill Matthews]

Thank you, Minister.

The company did have a history of importing medical goods into Canada. They had a valid licence at the time the contract was awarded, and had one for a number of years. As part of the procurement process, they did provide sample gowns that were inspected by the Public Health Agency of Canada and met requirements.

I should point out, Mr. Chair, that these were level 3 gowns, which are the highest certification of gown available. It's one of the toughest ones to get your hands on, especially back in March, so we were quite grateful that they were able to deliver on that contract.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you.

Mr. Paul-Hus, you have 35 seconds.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Anand, Nuctech is known to be heavily involved in corruption abroad. Is it right that the Government of Canada awarded a contract to that company?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Again, I want to mention that no contracts have been issued through the offer for the supply of security screening equipment. No payments have been issued or agreed upon. No goods and no services have been provided.

We are continuing to work with GAC to meet its procurement needs and security requirements. That is the state of the nation on Nuctech.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Madam Minister.

We will now go to Mr. Jowhari for five minutes.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to welcome the minister and the department to our committee for the fourth time. Thank you for being readily accessible.

Minister, in your opening remarks you talked about a number of different programs and also mentioned that your department covers a lot of programs. You highlighted some of them, which was good to hear.

I'd specifically like to ask you about the PSPC's departmental sustainable development strategy 2022-23. PSPC was planning to power federal buildings with 100% clean electricity that would be available by 2022.

Minister, can you give us an update on where we are with finalizing the strategy, and how you're going to power the federal buildings with a 100% clean strategy?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

That is discussed in my mandate letter from the Prime Minister, and is a priority for me as minister to do my part to green government and reduce our carbon footprint. I discuss that with our department frequently.

We are developing a strategy to power federal buildings with 100% clean electricity where available by 2022. We're still in development of this plan, but we are already retrofitting buildings, converting our fleet of vehicles to electric and hybrid vehicles and charging stations and, as you mentioned, converting our electrical system to clean energy to reduce the government's GHG emissions.

In addition, I want to mention the energy savings acquisition program. Through this GHG emissions program, we've already cut by approximately 30% since 2005. We aim for a total reduction of 63% in the national capital region with completion of the energy services modernization in 2025.

It is a priority for us. We are working on it. It is complicated, complex and multipronged, but we are working very hard on this strategy.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

I'm sure it is.

Madam Minister, is there any timeline you'd be able to share with us on when you'll be publishing or sharing that strategy with us?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

We are certainly continuing to discuss this in our public disclosures like our annual report and, in addition, we are seeking capital funding, using capital funding, to renovate buildings to reduce heat loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Our funding requests regarding the main estimates will show that we are continuing to be committed to modernizing the greening of the government fleet and building more charging stations, so there will be disclosure in that regard as well.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Great.

You brought up the main estimates. Is there anything specific to this program that's been highlighted or that you would like to highlight in our main estimates? Is there any inclusion of funds for this program?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

You will see that the funds for this program find their voice in individual asks that we are placing in the main estimates and the supplementary estimates.

For example, we are looking at renovating the Centre Block at the current time. It is a large GHG emitter because of the age of the building and the design. In collaboration with the Board of Internal Economy and the Senate, we are working on designs that will substantially reduce its emissions.

Each of our undertakings, whether we're talking about the Supreme Court, the Senate or the Centre Block, has as an objective to reduce GHG emissions and to green government. That's a priority for this department.