Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The explanations provided to us by Mr. Marshall and Mr. McGrath a little earlier do not convince me at all.
As regards JDS Uniphase, you said a little earlier that we should be careful with the numbers that have been circulating in the media. All of those numbers have, nevertheless, been verified. You talk about building maintenance, and you say that you must take into account other factors and determine what is more advantageous in the long term; signing a long-term lease or buying the building, which involves operating costs, maintenance costs and so on.
In a previous life, I calculated present values for public investments for the Municipality of Montreal. If the numbers published are accurate — and I believe they are — that means we are talking about signing a long-term lease costing $27 million per year for a building that is worth $30 million. With all of the maintenance costs and depreciations that you can imagine, the present value will have to be extraordinary when compared to the real value of the building.
That is what I am wondering about. Your explanation about not going to tender did not convince me in the least. You even provided arguments in favour of always going to tender, especially if 60% of buildings are available in Ottawa and 20% of buildings are available on the Gatineau side. That means that there is a lot of square footage available for any kind of project.
Why does your department appear to be a state within a state? The minister responsible who could answer our questions is not in the House of Commons. Moreover, you are telling us that you unilaterally decided that the best way to solve an accommodation problem for a client is to negotiate with a single firm, Minto Developments.
Did Mr. Doucet convince you to say virtually anything about JDS Uniphase, or are there other hidden reasons? I would like additional clarification on this matter.