Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Colleagues will recall that several weeks ago an issue surfaced about moneys spent or allocated by VIA Rail to a company in Wisconsin to provide services that had until then been provided by Canadian companies resident in Montreal and New Brunswick. I would like the committee to take a look at how the procurement practices of VIA Rail come to play in an issue where infrastructure dollars are involved. These moneys were allocated to VIA Rail to upgrade the system or the service, and to do it in the context of the intention for which the moneys had been allocated.
We don't know exactly how the process developed. We don't know how the decision was made. We don't know whether in fact the Wisconsin company was sufficiently well equipped to provide the service that had been provided by Canadian companies to that stage. I'd like us to hold at least a couple of hearings where we can bring in VIA Rail officials to explain how that's done, and maybe those Canadian companies, if not the Wisconsin company, to see why they weren't able to compete and why the other ones provide so-called “better service”.