Natural Resources Committee on Jan. 27th, 2026

[Eric McGoey]

I don't know for a fact that they voted. I wouldn't have been at those meetings. It seems reasonable to believe that the board would have provided oversight over the procurement process.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

In your last testimony, you said that this agreement, this proposal, was almost guaranteed to go to an all-American group.

[Eric McGoey]

Mr. Tochor, please. That is not at all what I said.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

You said that it was almost guaranteed, though, that it would go to someone outside of Canada.

[Eric McGoey]

I said that there would be members on the winning team who had GOCO experience, which likely would have been obtained outside of Canada, yes, as a portion of the winning bid.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

The bid, the proposal, guaranteed that this would go to a foreign company, because—

[Eric McGoey]

No, because, Mr. Tochor—

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

—the requirements—

[Eric McGoey]

I said that it was because the previous consortium that ran CNL from 2015 to 2025 did not opt to make a bid or submit a bid. Those are the only people in Canada with GOCO experience. I don't know why they didn't bid.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

So how it was written—

[Eric McGoey]

I don't know why they didn't bid, but because they didn't bid, the GOCO experience—

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

It automatically went to the winning bid.

[Eric McGoey]

—which was part of the score, was going to end up coming from elsewhere.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

That's how it's connected. This is where we had the issues that the contract was awarded underhandedly because it was slanted in favour of the winning bid versus past companies.

Back to your earlier testimony about Kinectrics—

[Eric McGoey]

How could the writers of the bid have known in advance that the incumbents weren't going to bid again?

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

This is the problem and why we would like to see the contract, the whole bidding process. We've been stonewalled for months on this issue.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I apologize, Mr. Chair.

It's a very nice discussion, I really like it, but there hasn't been any interpretation for a while.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Monsieur Simard, could you repeat that, please?

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I was saying that it's a very nice discussion, but there hasn't been any interpretation for a while now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Okay.

We've stopped your time, Mr. Tochor. Give me one moment.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Do I have three minutes left?

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

The interpretation is back.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

You have one minute and three seconds.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

It wasn't in French, though. I'd like to start at the top, because the translation services cut me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

When did the translation stop?