Madam Chairman, one thing that I have been struck by in the eight or nine days that I have been reviewing the files in this portfolio is the strong interest that many members of parliament take in this program. They are members of differing political parties, provinces and communities from right across the country.
Members of parliament making their views known, particularly about the projects they support, is an extremely valuable thing. That is an issue I will be looking at in terms of the future administration of the program. Is there a vehicle by which members of parliament can indicate to me the types of projects that have that kind of community merit that would justify sponsorship by the Government of Canada?
In terms of the contracting process I am pleased to be able to tell the hon. member that 92% of the contracts managed by this department were awarded on the basis of competitive tenders. There were only 8% that were managed in a different way and needed to meet the requirements with respect to sole sourcing.
Competition is the foundation of our contracting process and if I can find ways to enhance the competitive process to make it more open, competitive, transparent and therefore, as the bottom line, more fair and probably less costly to the Government of Canada, I will be interested in pursuing those various techniques.
As I said earlier, sponsorship performs a valuable service. Sponsorships are provided by the private sector, municipal and provincial governments, and by the federal government. They support good and worthy activities across the country. The issue is not the principle or the validity of the concept, nor is it the merit of the local community based projects. The issue is the delivery mechanism and I am committed to finding the most cost effective, open, transparent, accountable and value for money effort to deliver on these sponsorships in the way that Canadians would expect.