Government Operations Committee on Oct. 31st, 2023

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thirty days?

I see agreement, thanks.

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Additionally, Chair, I move that we send for a list of all subcontractors used by Coradix, Dalian, and GC Strategies for Government of Canada contracts.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Mr. Jowhari, you have the floor.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

I understand the purpose of that, and I understand that we are trying to see whether, because of the perceived tampering, there are others, but specifically what type of information are you asking for? Is it their first name and last name? Are you asking for their résumé? What is it that's being asked for? If they have 1,500 résumés.... They claim that they have 1,500 résumé, and 476 of those are already working in the federal government, and if there are....

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Are you looking for contracts to the subcontractors' invoices? With the GC, we got invoices from GC of who they subcontracted to. Are you able to define a big player?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

In this particular case, I was asking simply for a list of all subcontractors of these three companies for work done by the Government of Canada. That—

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Is that for 30 years?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

If there are 1,500 names, I'm sure they have a list of them, and they can print.... I think that this is pretty straightforward, simple information. Presumably, they have a list of people they've subcontracted to, and they can print it off and send it in. If that list contains, you know, “Bob” with no further qualifying information, the committee would likely want to follow up to ask, “Who's this Bob you subcontracted to?”

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Can we set a time limit so that we're not going, as Mr. Powlowski's commented about....? I think one of them was 32 years.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Well—

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Mr. Johns, is it the same issue?

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Can we just do...? I think Mr. Sousa the other day wanted to go back 12 years.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

That's fine.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Let's go back 12 years. Does that sound reasonable to keep consistency?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Are we fine with that?

All right.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Can I ask: Will my colleague read the full 12-year list?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Are you talking about the list of subcontractors?

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Yes, I am.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Yes, of course.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

It's a list. We're not looking for anything else.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

I'm sorry; in the list, are we asking for first, last names or the names of the organizations?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I assume that it's whomever you subcontracted to.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Chair, initially, I think it's reasonable to request the list of who the subcontractors are, and I think it would be... I mean, I hope that list contains the relevant identifying information. As I say, if some of the subcontractors are listed as, you know, “Bob's Garage” or something, then I think we're going to want further information on who exactly works in Bob's garage. I think, as an initial volley, it's fair to say that we'd like the list of who the subcontractors are so that we can use that information to get to the bottom of what happened.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

So we're going back 12 years.

I'm going to get the clerk to read it back so we're all clear.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Aimée Belmore]

With your permission, can I read both of them back? Excellent, because I'm definitely going to need some clarification.

So, it's “That the committee send for copies of all task authorizations for the government...." I'm sorry; I really didn't get all of the wording there, but most importantly, it's that the documents be sent for from Coradix and Dalian. That was the absolute measure I wanted to be sure of.

Could you elaborate a little more on all task authorizations of all past organizations for the government? I need a little more clarification.