Mr. Speaker, again to repeat the facts of this matter, the contract was required by the Department of Canadian Heritage. The decision to award the contract to a particular company was made by officials within the Department of Public Works. The company that was selected, Groupe Everest, was in fact on a pre-qualified suppliers list available to both Canadian Heritage and the Department of Public Works and that list was established through a competitive process.
In the House of Commons on October 29th, 2002. See this statement in context.