Did you do work for Dalian?
Evidence of meeting #113 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cbsa.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #113 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cbsa.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
We did work for Dalian.
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
I don't know if Dalian did work for GC Strategies.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
We were aware the work was for the benefit of CBSA.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Blake Desjarlais NDP Edmonton Griesbach, AB
Did you at any time say, “Maybe we should contact CBSA directly”?
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
That would have been inappropriate.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Blake Desjarlais NDP Edmonton Griesbach, AB
Do you believe it was more appropriate to work with this company—which was one person—as opposed to working with the body that would issue that task authorization?
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
We work with companies of all sizes that produce work. There may be customers of ours that are one person.
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
Of customers...?
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Blake Desjarlais NDP Edmonton Griesbach, AB
In this case, you're calling Dalian a customer, so I'm trying to understand your relationship with Dalian.
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
No, we do not do due diligence on all of our customers.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Blake Desjarlais NDP Edmonton Griesbach, AB
What did you know about Dalian, then, when you accepted the work? Was it that they worked for the government?
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
We understood they needed work from us. They contracted us to do work for the benefit of CBSA, and we performed that work.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Blake Desjarlais NDP Edmonton Griesbach, AB
You know that, as a public servant, it would be strange. Don't you know that, especially as a person formerly working in this place?
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
It's not strange. It's actually extremely normal in the course of our business that a number of—
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Blake Desjarlais NDP Edmonton Griesbach, AB
That's exactly why we have this problem. It's because of the way your company is operating—taking advantage of general contractors, in this case, who are taking advantage of us.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
Thank you, Mr. Desjarlais. That is your time. You'll have another opportunity.
I'll turn now to Mr. Barrett.
You have the floor for five minutes.
April 9th, 2024 / 4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
I want to follow up on my colleague's question about Minh Doan, who was the chief information officer accused of destroying documents and records related to Justin Trudeau's $60-million arrive scam. This is something the access to information commissioner is investigating.
Is there any reason that comes to mind why emails and documents from Amazon would be in the destroyed documents?
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
I don't have any knowledge of what documents were or weren't destroyed.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
Can you tell us the total amount in contracts that Amazon has had with the Canada Border Services Agency since 2015?
4:35 p.m.
Director, Global Artificial Intelligence and Canada Public Policy, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
I don't know the value of the contracts. However, in the last year, we did approximately $20 million in work for CBSA. We expect that number may fluctuate based on usage of cloud computing.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
How many active contracts do you currently have with CBSA?