Evidence of meeting #153 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was businesses.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Thank you, Mr. Dubeau. Welcome back to our committee.
Hopefully, after Mr. Clark, you can go back to the work that's very important, especially during this time.
I'm going to ask a bunch of very pointed questions. Hopefully, the answer is yes or no, and then we'll move on.
Let me start at the highest level. Did Prime Minister Trudeau have anything to do with or any influence on the purchase of this property?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No, he did not.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Did Minister Joly have anything whatsoever to do or any influence on the decision to purchase this property?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No, she did not.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Did anyone within the office of Minister Joly have anything to do with influencing the direction that this process was going?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Did Mr. Tom Clark, the head of mission, have any influence whatsoever in making the decision and influencing the process that your colleague Franck Hounzangbé had in influencing that decision?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No, he did not.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Do heads of mission have influence in deciding whether they would like or not like to reside in a premises that's given to them?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No, they would not.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Can you draw a difference between a desire to build or improve a relationship with a G7 or G20 mission and all the team members mobilized to make that happen as opposed to buying a property? That seems to be the last conclusion, that the head of mission gets whatever they want.
The basis for that comment is that, if a head of mission sees fit to build or strengthen a relationship with one of the G7, then that happens. What's the difference between that type of mandate, goal or desire? Compare that type of influence with their ability to be able to choose a residence to live in.
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
What I would say is that, in this particular case, it was a great opportunity for us to solve a decade-long problem that we had with an aging property that was not meeting our requirements. We acquired a smaller and less expensive property, creating savings, not only immediately but also in the long term, for Canadians. I would say that was the driver.
Basically, there was no influence other than goodwill to fill a requirement that we had and to create savings for Canadians.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Thank you.
There was no influence at any level. The process was followed. We've shown a positive value. There are processes in place to be able to divest from the portfolio. Can you give us a range of the number of initiatives as such that exist right now across GAC to be able to replace a residence for the head of a mission?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Right now, working from my memory, I don't think we have a lot of projects to replace official residences, but we do have a lot of projects to renovate, maintain or upgrade some of those official residences. We came out of the pandemic with a large backlog. We had a lot of work that had been deferred. Our intention was to put our efforts into basically catching up on those delays.
We do have a certain number of official residences that are being looked at right now in terms of options analysis or projects that we would like to conduct there to bring them up to our standards. I don't have a number directly in my head.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
This mission office change is part of an ongoing process that the department is engaging in. Is that correct?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Yes. That's correct.
Liberal
Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Okay. Thank you very much.
Mr. Chair, I know that you have a couple of budget items to pass, so I'll yield the rest of the time back to you.
Thank you very much.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Thank you, Mr. Jowhari.
Mr. Dubeau and Mr. Hounzangbé, thank you for joining us.
Ms. Guay, thanks for joining us for a second time. You're close to the record for the most appearances without actually being able to speak.
You are all dismissed.
Quickly, we have three budgets to approve.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Can I get to my budgets first, please, and then return to you?
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
The first one is for the official residence of the consul general. It's $2,500.
(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Wonderful.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
That's the budget and not the cost of the residence—right?
