I really like the example Mr. LePage used, but we could look at in different ways.
Other countries, in Europe and the U.S. for example, are increasingly using what are called “social clauses”. This is a contract like the one Mr. LePage was talking about, in other words, providing cleaning and maintenance services for all the federal buildings, for example. We know there are costs, and clear cleaning and maintenance expectations, but we could also add that we want to integrate people who are far from the labour market or people with disabilities. Private enterprises can do this too, which would benefit society, but in many cases in Europe, they hire sub-contractors from social enterprises whose mandate falls in line with this. Either way, society benefits. This market remains open to everyone.
That was an example, but we might also say that for a Canada-wide contract, we are pretty sure that only multi-nationals will be capable of meeting the needs and that a limited number of enterprises will be able to bid. Often, if a contract is broken down and limited to a city, or even a building, then the price would not be as good and would allow local enterprises or social economy enterprises to bid, which they cannot do for contracts that are too big. That has to be kept in mind when the request for proposals is being written. The way requests for proposals are defined has an impact.