Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to your House of Commons.
My main question is for the people from the defence group.
Mr. Chair, as a citizen of Quebec and someone who used to be a member of the province's legislature, I am highly attuned to the matter of construction contracts and spending.
It stems from the debacle involving Quebec's construction industry, which was rocked by a massive scandal related to so-called extras, or add-ons. The municipal or provincial contract would be awarded to the lowest bidder, and then extra costs would be piled on throughout the construction process to inflate the bill. That was the context for the misappropriation of funds that occurred. As everyone knows, the mayors of a number of municipalities resigned as a result, which is a big deal in Quebec, especially when you're talking about cities like Montreal and Laval. I won't name all the municipalities involved, lest I make a mistake, but the list is far too long.
Mr. Presser, I bring this up because your corporation's mandate is directly tied to the construction sector. I know you are a responsible person and have taken the matter seriously. However, I make no bones about the fact that, while I am not worried per se, I am somewhat concerned that you didn't have any real fraud-detection or prevention measures in place.
The finding in the Auditor General's report reads as follows:
The register did not include a risk related to detecting or preventing fraud, collusion, or corruption. This in turn limited the information that senior management and the Board had about fraud, to inform their risk management and decision making.
How do you respond to that?