Thanks, Chair.
I think I made it clear in my preamble that answers are needed. Increasingly, in my regular committee assignment at the access to information, privacy and ethics committee, we are seeing a troubling trend of there seeming to be no end to public dollars being abused.
Chair, I would suggest that the way this motion is written is very specific. We simply need to ensure that if there was what could be double-dipping.... If employees who are working in a department are moonlighting as contractors and getting contracts from that department, I would certainly hope no one around this table would suggest it's a good idea or a responsible use of public dollars, nor would Canadians. I would suggest to the Canadians watching, if that is in fact the case, that there is a serious challenge with the way public dollars are being administered in terms of employees and the rules and regulations around what they are allowed to do when it comes to contracts and procurement.
Chair, I will leave it at that. I'm hopeful we can have support. The specifics of this motion are very direct. We, of course, want to respect the privacy of those individuals. However, if a federal employee has a company engaged in a contract with the federal government, as it specifically says in this motion, it certainly needs to be public, as do, of course, the dollars associated with that.
Chair, I hope common sense will prevail. I hope we can produce these documents so that my very capable colleagues who sit as regular members of this committee are able to provide the transparency that Canadians demand and certainly deserve, the transparency that Conservatives are diligently working so hard each and every day to provide.
Thank you, Chair.