Mr. Speaker, in June I asked the Minister for International Cooperation why a successful Ontario company, Markham Electric, was denied the chance to compete for a CIDA contract. Only three companies, all from Quebec, were lucky enough to be picked by the minister to submit formal bids.
CIDA is obliged to use an independent appeal mechanism to resolve disputes, but despite petitions to CIDA, to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and to Treasury Board, Markham Electric has found no venue in which to launch an appeal.
This summer the Minister for International Cooperation made a cross-Canada junket ostensibly to encourage more Canadian companies to bid on CIDA projects. This cynical, typically Liberal strategy will fool nobody. The shameful treatment of Markham Electric confirms that CIDA is closed to companies lacking a Quebec address, connections with the CIDA bureaucracy and a donor's receipt from the Liberal Party.