The fact of the matter is that when you are talking about the federal realm, there is no legislative framework that allows the Minister of Public Works and Government Services to embed a community benefits requirement in a contract for a building and repair project. It's just not there. This bill enshrines a community benefits approach in the federal system. That's what this bill is doing. It is also about accountability, making sure that when the minister chooses to use this tool, we also have an assessment of how effective that requirement was, and the reporting back to Parliament.
On November 1st, 2016. See this statement in context.