Evidence of meeting #51 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 bdc.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
That's our time, Mr. Kusmierczyk.
Thanks very much.
Minister, thanks for being with us.
I have a couple of questions for Mr. Huppé if my colleagues do not mind.
Mr. Huppé, did you hold a meeting last Thursday with the CFOs?
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Did you advise the CFOs—and I'm going to be quoting—“Be careful what you write down. It will find its way out through an ATIP.”
Did you say that?
5:50 p.m.
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
Indeed, I cautioned people that, as public servants, we need to remain very factual in what we say. Emails are not necessarily the place to write personal opinions on different subjects.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
5:50 p.m.
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
Be careful what you write down—absolutely.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Do you not think it violates the intent or the spirit of the Access to Information Act if you advise senior public officials not to write things down for fear they'll show up in an ATIP?
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
5:50 p.m.
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
What I said is that they need to remain very factual. They have to be careful in what they are writing down.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Did you use the words, “Be careful what you write down. It will find its way out through an ATIP”?
5:50 p.m.
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
I don't remember exactly what I said, to be honest with you, but I did caution people that, as we're dealing with sensitive situations, they need to remain very factual.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
I am greatly worried that, as the Information Commissioner stated, there's a culture of secrecy and it appears that you are leaning toward that.
Today you sent out an email to deputy heads, CFOs and the chief audit executives. I'm just going to ask if you'll share it with the committee. You said that on February 15, every department and agency is required to submit the information attached in an Excel spreadsheet for contracts for which McKinsey has contracting authority for... You mentioned the 15th.
Will you share that with this committee, please, as part of our study?
5:55 p.m.
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
I think the committee's already asking for basically the same type of information for—
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
I'm asking if you'll provide this.
Can I have committee approval to ask that you provide us with that Excel document that you've sent out to the CFOs and deputy heads for the 15th?
There's an additional one that you've asked for by March 22, a form or letter to provide to you items under the integrity regime, procurements and procurements conducted in a consistent manner. I'd like the approval of the committee to ask that you provide that as soon as you receive it as well.
5:55 p.m.
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
The information that we will receive is necessary for us to conduct our review and analysis that will generate the report that we said we would do by June 30.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Colleagues, is it the will of the committee that Mr. Huppé provide those as soon as they're received?
5:55 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
I think I have the will of the committee.
The email that you distributed said February 15, so we'll expect it to the clerk on the next day. The other document, which is a Word document, will be by March 22.
Tomorrow you are meeting with the chief audit executives on the McKinsey study. Would you provide us with the minutes immediately when they are ready after tomorrow's meeting, after your meeting with the audit executives?
5:55 p.m.
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
Super. Give us time to write the minutes but we will definitely do that.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
That's perfect.
Is it the will of the committee that that be provided to the committee?
5:55 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
That's perfect. Tomorrow is Thursday, so perhaps Friday or Monday you can have them sent to our clerk.
Thank you very much, witnesses.
Ms. Luelo, it's nice to see you again. You're a former constituent.
Again, let me just express my extreme displeasure over the comments made about perhaps hiding things from access to information and continued secrecy from that level.
Thank you, everyone. Unless there's anything else, we will be suspending to bring in a new witness.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Colleagues, we'll now continue.
I wish to welcome Ms. Hudon to OGGO.
Do you have an opening statement for us, for five minutes?
5:55 p.m.
Isabelle Hudon President and Chief Executive Officer, Business Development Bank of Canada
Yes, I do.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Dear members of the committee, good afternoon.
For more than 75 years, BDC, the Business Development Bank of Canada, has played a critical role in the Canadian economic landscape, being the only bank exclusively devoted to entrepreneurs. We lend to Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, we advise them and we invest in them.
Our role is one of development, where we act in complementarity with private sector lenders and fill important gaps that the market can't. This is a role that our teams perform with exemplary rigour and efficiency.
As a result, far from being a burden for taxpayers, our activities are profitable and have allowed us to have paid $1.3 billion in dividends to our shareholder, the Government of Canada, since 2011. Above all, our activities benefit our 95,000 clients, who rely on us to grow their business and, in the process, contribute to the prosperity of the country.
The pandemic has been a defining moment in BDC's recent history. Without a significant increase in our workforce and within a demanding context, we supported more than 25,000 new clients. In doing so, the pandemic concretely demonstrated BDC's expertise and the potential to support an even greater number of entrepreneurs.
During the summer of 2021, Canada was still facing a tumultuous economic context, and the BDC team felt compelled once again. It is at this moment that I joined BDC. Driven by the ambition to have an even greater impact, we embarked, with the members of our board of directors, on a strategic review. It was in the context of this exercise that we made the decision to seek the services of a consulting firm.
It was clear, both for me and my team, that we held the leadership and full ownership for this review. However, we were also convinced that to conduct this exercise with the rigour and scale it deserved, the use of an external firm would prove useful. This process would help us refine and confirm our understanding of the future. It would also provide us with the perspective of other development banks around the world and expose us to best practices. This would equip us with the best possible tools to begin the next phase of implementation, because there was never any doubt that BDC would assume full responsibility for the execution of the strategy.
Our intention to work with an external firm therefore resulted in the launch of a formal, competitive, and rigorous call for tenders, at the end of which the selection committee made the decision to retain McKinsey. Their work started in 2021, and ended in the summer of 2022. Assessing the value for money of this contract calls for a two-step analysis: short-term and long-term.
In the immediate sense, I can tell you that this process has allowed us to adopt a renewed, ambitious and inspiring strategic vision of what BDC can do for Canada over the next ten years. The external firm helped us increase our capabilities and carry out the strategic exercise in parallel with our day-to-day operations. It was essential for me that the consultants work in synergy with my colleagues. This approach has enriched our strategic thinking, widened our perspectives, and facilitated meaningful knowledge transfer.
Longer term, I have the firm conviction that in a few years, we will look at this exercise the same way that we look today at the origin of the success of BDC Capital. Developed 11 years ago with the help of consultants, this ambitious strategy has enabled BDC Capital to play a leading role in growing the Canadian venture capital market from $1 billion in 2009 to nearly $15 billion in 2021. That contract was assuredly a good investment—for BDC and for the Canadian economy.
It is obviously too early to reach similar conclusions regarding the contract that has just ended. But I can assure you of one thing: bringing to life the ambitions of our strategic vision and the full realization of our mandate as a development bank are at the heart of all the decisions we make.
With that, it will be my pleasure to answer your questions.