Government Operations Committee on Nov. 6th, 2025

[Donnalyn McClymont]

I wouldn't be in a position to give that kind of level of detail around personal information about the individual candidates we suggested.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

I'm just asking about Mr. Guzman. He was obviously the successful applicant—if, in fact, he was on a list.

Okay, thank you for that.

In budget 2025, there will be both funding allocated to PSPC to establish the DIA and set-aside funding for the agency, starting in 2026. If we look at page 199 of the budget that was tabled yesterday, it states that the new Defence Investment Agency will receive $13 million in the year 2026-27. Is that correct?

[Dominique Blanchard]

I don't have the exact reference in front of me. I recall that it was in the order of $38 million over a period of four or five years.

Yes, that would be to sustain the operations. I think the organization now is being sustained with some internal funding from PSPC.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

I guess my last comment will be that, with $13 million in 2026-27 and possibly a salary and bonus of almost $1 million, the CEO is taking one-thirteenth of the budget for the year 2026-27.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thanks.

We'll now go to Ms. Rochefort, please, for five minutes.

[Pauline Rochefort, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to drill down on some of the questions that have already been asked to understand the extent to which the Treasury Board of Canada, your secretariat, will be involved in supporting Public Services and Procurement Canada to develop the departmental result indicators and measurement standards related to this new organization.

[Dominique Blanchard]

I would say that, as with all departments, those requirements will be the same for the Defence Investment Agency, and they will be reflected through PSPC's departmental reporting.

The Treasury Board does play a role in the approval of the core responsibilities of departments. Should there be amendments to the framework required, those would come to Treasury Board or to the appropriate delegated authority in that regard.

Is there anything you want to add on that, Emilio?

[Emilio Franco]

Treasury Board does have a policy on results. Like any department, PSPC, and the Defence Investment Agency within it, will have to establish its results for its programs, and those will be, as Dominique mentioned, reported through DR.

[Pauline Rochefort, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Do you have examples of what these metrics would look like or could be?

[Emilio Franco]

I wouldn't be able to speculate. The department would be best positioned to speak to how it will assess its results and report them to Parliament and to Canadians.

[Pauline Rochefort, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Thank you.

Could you speak to the role that the Treasury Board will play in defining the legal and policy framework for federal contracting and procurement for the new defence agency?

[Dominique Blanchard]

I can maybe start and then turn to Emilio.

The legal framework and the policy framework are now the same as they are for all departments as it relates to procurement, with the exceptions that I've already noted in the case of contracting. As and when they may need additional delegations or additional exemptions from policies, they could seek those from the board, and we, as the secretariat, would have to do some analysis on a case-by-case basis to see how we would advise on those.

Do you want to add anything, Emilio?

[Emilio Franco]

Absolutely, I'm always happy to talk about procurement.

I think it's important to emphasize that, again, this organization follows the same rules as everyone else, with the exceptions that we've highlighted. That includes laws, regulations, trade agreements and Treasury Board policies around procurement.

The department will also have—I think it's important to emphasize—its own set of controls, systems and processes around procurement that are going to be specific and unique to how they operate. That will be in addition to those broader frameworks. They'll also be required to have, like any other organization, controls in place like oversight, audit, financial controls and record-keeping. All these rules will apply to this organization, just as they do to any other organization.

Of course, the Auditor General and the procurement ombudsman will continue to have a role in overseeing procurements conducted by any organization, including this one.

Last, and very important to me, is transparency. Its procurements will continue to be published proactively on the Open Government portal.

[Pauline Rochefort, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Maybe I'll ask just a quick question, then, to follow up on that matter of transparency.

How will it safeguard sensitive defence information in that context?

[Emilio Franco]

The publication of procurements is managed under the Access to Information Act, so of course, if there are sensitive aspects to a procurement that are not appropriate to be published, that information can be withheld. The general practice is that you still publish as much as possible and only withhold the information that is sensitive.

[Pauline Rochefort, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Thank you for that information.

That's all for me. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you very much.

We will now go to Ms. Gaudreau for two and a half minutes, please.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

The matter of Canada's industrial capacity came up earlier. The government says it wants to align defence, Canadian businesses and domestic industrial capability. Dealing with Ottawa is already complex. Some people have told me it's so complicated that they had to conduct studies and so forth.

Davie Canada, a Quebec-based shipbuilding company, had to take a loan from Investissement Québec to do business with the federal government.

Will the Business Development Bank of Canada, or BDC, and the Community Futures Development Corporation, or CFDC, support regional businesses? I'm very concerned about that.

[Dominique Blanchard]

That's a very good question. I'm not sure I have the right answer.

It's true that the agencies and corporations you've referred to have a role to play to support industry, but that does not typically apply to the defence industry. I don't want to speculate, but they may be able to play a bigger role in this area given that the government has an exceptionally ambitious goal.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Defence-related practices in other countries were taken into consideration. That's great.

France has the Loi de programmation militaire. The Parliament of Canada votes on policies. Procurement gives parliamentarians leverage.

That said, the ultimate goal is transparency and predictability for industry, which is good for our economy.

What plans do you have to consult Parliament and to talk to industry? It's a matter of choices and predictability. We are looking into what's going on at this time of crisis.

What can you tell us about that?

[Dominique Blanchard]

That's a great question. However, you might want to put it to the Defence Investment Agency. The representatives would be in a better position to answer your question once the agency is in place.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Okay, Ms. Blanchard.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thanks.

Ms. Jansen, go ahead, please.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

I hope you don't mind. I'm going to start a little simple.

The old system, if I understand correctly, works like this: The Department of National Defence decides what's needed. Procurement Canada handles the contracting. The Department of Industry adds the gadgets and the tech requirements, and the Treasury Board signs off on the money. Therefore, there are four departments involved in every major defence purchase. Is that correct?

[Dominique Blanchard]

It is, yes, at a minimum.