Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a) and (b), the MV Caribou was sold to Comrie Ltd. of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for $3,875,000 in Canadian dollars.
The MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood was sold to Merrion Navigation S.A. of the Marshall Islands for $3,800,000 in Canadian dollars.
With regard to (c), the ship broker was ICAP Shipping based out of London, England.
With regard to (d), Marine Atlantic disposed of the vessels in accordance with all appropriate and accepted procurement practices applicable to Canadian crown corporations. The corporation issued a request for proposals, RFP, to ensure an open bidding process to select a broker. The RFP was posted on MERX, a leading electronic tendering service used by the Government of Canada. While no Canadian brokerage firms were directly contacted by Marine Atlantic, the tendering process allowed for any Canadian brokerage firm to submit a bid through MERX. No Canadian firms submitted a bid.
While it was publicly known for several months that Marine Atlantic was attempting to sell the vessels, no Canadian brokerage firm approached the corporation before the issuance of the RFP or in response to the RFP. One Canadian broker did contact Marine Atlantic after the selected brokerage firm had been awarded the contract.
With regard to (e), ICAP received 1% of the gross sale price: $38,750 in Canadian dollars for the MV Caribou and $38,000 in Canadian dollars for the MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood.