Thank you, Chair.
The motion I have moved deals with a situation that we have recently heard about in the arrive scam scandal, which is that one of the contractors was given $7.9 million as part of the ArriveCAN process, for what work we still don't have clarity on. The arrive scam scandal led to this contractor, Dalian, receiving $7.9 million at the same time as this person was an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Department of Veterans Affairs, by the way, also gave money to this company. You have an employee of the government whose own department, as well as other departments, is giving money to his contract.
This is absurd. As I said earlier, the reason we see any contracting out is based on the idea that the government doesn't have the internal expertise to perform a particular task. Why would the government, contracting out on the basis that they don't have the internal expertise to do something, contract out to someone who is also a government employee? It makes no sense and allows individuals to double-dip. This shouldn't happen.
I asked our witness today directly if there are rules that clearly prohibit this practice, and he answered to the committee that there are not rules that could prohibit this practice and that there could be an evaluation around a conflict of interest, but in his words, it's “not disallowed”. I think it should be disallowed that you have somebody making money both as a government employee and as an external contractor, when they're being externally contracted on the basis of the alleged lack of internal expertise of government.
I would hope that this motion would have the agreement of the committee. I think it's important, in light of the evidence we've heard, to send a clear message to the government that this type of practice should no longer be allowed.
Thank you.