Thank you very much.
During the pandemic, the government had a number of sole-sourced contracts. I understand, for the very reasons you just outlined, that those criteria were met for that sole-sourcing, but it drew a lot of public scrutiny.
For example, we've recently been looking at the ArriveCAN app and we learned that several sole-sourced contracts were provided to a small, two-person IT firm, which then subcontracted out the work. We have also learned that there is no way that parliamentarians have access to any of that information about those subcontractors. What this really means is that the government cannot be held accountable for how taxpayers' dollars are being spent.
The other thing we've learned is that by using a staffing firm, a large part, potentially one-third, of the cost of that contract is being paid to the firms. They've contracted other companies that do the work, and they're taking between 15% and 30% right off the top.
My question for the Treasury Board is this: What has the Treasury Board done in reviewing what's happened during the pandemic to address this issue? Why are you insisting on a process that covers up how taxpayers' money is being spent?