One of the main concerns that I recall from the witness testimony when we dealt with the previous iteration of this bill was protecting the integrity of the public procurement process, specifically on the issue of ensuring that you're comparing apples to apples. There was some real nervousness among some of the witnesses we heard that suggested it would be unfair if you said, “I want you to build a building with x, y, z dimensions, and tell me what else you're going to give me”, which would potentially create an unfair playing field for somebody who might have a personal relationship with a decision-maker under one government or another, or potentially might come up with an idea that would change the financial dynamics of their bid. Are you comfortable that the mechanism that's in place in this bill specifically ensuring that the requirement of a community benefit is identified before the awarding of a contract will mitigate the risk that the integrity of the process could be jeopardized?
On November 30th, 2017. See this statement in context.