Debates of May 19th, 2022

Public Works and Government Services—Main Estimates, 2022-23

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Chair, I have been very clear that in the contracts we will not procure goods that use forced labour. If the member has evidence that forced labour is being used, he should share that information and we will look at it. We are not going to procure goods that use forced labour and we take the allegations very seriously.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Chair, I have been sharing it this evening and the minister has refused to rule out buying from these companies.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has identified dozens of companies that have knowingly used forced labour goods in their supply chains. These companies, according to the government's own Buyandsell website, have received hundreds of millions in contracts from the Liberal government.

If my office, with one person, can find all of this information, why can PSPC, with all of its resources, not find the same information and stop sending Canadian taxpayer dollars to buy services made with forced labour?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Chair, we have taken action on forced labour. We take the allegations very seriously. We have implemented clauses in our contracts. We have a code of conduct that has to be signed. In fact, we are one of two countries, the U.S. and us, that have expanded CUSMA obligations with respect to forced labour to all imports.

We have taken action. We take this seriously. It is in four ministers' mandate letters. I look forward to moving forward and supporting the Minister of Labour as he leads on the legislation for the eradication of forced labour.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Madam Chair, I am pleased to have the opportunity to address this committee to discuss the procurement activities of the Government of Canada and how these are being leveraged to meet our goals for equity.

I believe every member of the House would agree that the government wields considerable buying power as one of the largest public buyers of goods and services in this country. Every year, Public Services and Procurement Canada manages or facilitates approximately 23 billion dollars' worth of contracts for goods and services.

Our procurement activities keep the government functioning so it can serve and protect all Canadians. These procurements generate economic activity and bring money into the hands of Canadian companies, sustaining many thousands of jobs in cities and towns all across this country and contributing to our prosperity as a nation.

Government procurement has always been an important catalyst for change, and the opportunities it provides have never been more evident than they are today. It is our focus as a government to bring our purchasing power to bear as we work to improve the way the government buys goods and services to support Canadians.

While our economy is making a strong recovery, we know the pandemic has affected the lives and livelihoods of so many across our country and around the world. Most recently, our bulk procurements of rapid tests, vaccines and therapeutics have helped Canada respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, a top priority for our government.

We have also seen how these economic hardships have affected some communities more than others. For members of under-represented groups in this country, the pandemic is just the latest in a long history of tragic events that have led us further and further from the image of equality that we want to see for Canada. There is still so much work to be done if Canada is to become a country with equal opportunities for everyone.

As this government finishes the fight against COVID-19, we are committed to creating an environment where all Canadians can benefit from a robust economic recovery. That means ensuring that those who are facing systemic barriers to success are able to successfully participate in federal procurement and benefit from our considerable buying power. That is exactly what we have been doing in recent years.

We have been consulting businesses led by indigenous people, Black Canadians, other racialized Canadians, women, LGBTQ2+ Canadians and Canadians with disabilities. These discussions have informed us, and we have developed concrete plans to increase their representation in federal procurement to better reflect our country and society.

I would like to now take a few minutes to explain in detail our actions to attract a wider diversity in suppliers to government.

This government remains committed to building progress to address the inequalities that exist between indigenous and non-indigenous people. As we continue to walk the path of reconciliation, we are working to help indigenous communities seize economic opportunities and promote self-determination.

This past August, we announced that our government is implementing a mandatory requirement for federal departments and agencies to ensure that a minimum of 5% of the value of their contracts is held by businesses managed and led by first nations, Inuit and Métis people. The new requirement will be phased in, and we expect it to be fully implemented by 2024. It will be mandatory to report publicly on our progress against this target.

I would like to make it clear that when it comes to ensuring that indigenous-owned and indigenous-led businesses are full partners in government contracting, the 5% requirement is the floor, not the ceiling. We will continue to work actively with indigenous groups to increase their participation in federal procurement more broadly.

I would like to remind members of the House that even as this government worked tirelessly to acquire supplies and equipment to support Canada's frontline health care workers and all Canadians during the pandemic, we were also creating opportunities for businesses led and managed by indigenous people. To date, 41 self-identified indigenous businesses have contributed to the government's pandemic response through contracts awarded by Public Services and Procurement Canada for goods and services collectively worth about $197 million.

These contracts represent vital services that include logistics, air charter services, accommodation, cleaning services and IT professional services. They also represent much-needed goods, such as medical and laboratory supplies, masks, hand sanitizers and thermometers, contributing to more than 2.7 billion pieces of personal protective equipment acquired by the government since the beginning of the pandemic. By increasing contracting opportunities, we are able to generate economic prosperity in communities that have not traditionally shared in this country's economic wealth. As we have said many times, this government is committed to reconciliation. That includes increasing the participation of indigenous-led businesses in the federal procurement process, and helping them to succeed and grow.

Our plan is also to continue addressing barriers faced by other groups that are under-represented in Canada's business community: Black and racialized Canadians, women, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ2+ Canadians. In January, Public Services and Procurement Canada launched the supplier diversity action plan, which includes concrete steps to increase the participation of businesses from under-represented groups in federal procurement. The foundation for this plan was the result of a number of pilot projects. One of these projects involved opening select bidding opportunities in several regions for various goods and services to Black-owned and operated businesses. The department then invited a number of these businesses to answer an online questionnaire about their experiences with federal procurement. This information has been helping PSPC improve efforts to attract more Black-owned and operated businesses to offer their goods and services to government.

A cornerstone of the supplier diversity action plan is the policy on social procurement. This policy demonstrates our government's commitment to using procurement toward greater economic and social opportunities for under-represented groups. The policy empowers procurement specialists to pursue this objective in their day-to-day work. By enacting this policy, our government is making it clear that including more under-represented groups among our suppliers is now a core objective of our procurement function.

I would like to highlight some of the ways in which our government is working to increase the participation of women-owned and led businesses in federal procurement. Encouraging women-owned and led businesses to do business with government will help ensure that our economic recovery after the pandemic will be strong and inclusive.

To help increase diversity and social procurement, Public Services and Procurement Canada is providing education and assistance on federal procurements to under-represented groups across Canada through the Procurement Assistance Canada service, formerly known as the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises. Small and medium-sized businesses can take advantage of webinars, seminars and events organized by regional offices across the country to learn more about how to do business with government. In addition, as part of the supplier diversity action plan that I mentioned earlier, these offices now offer personalized coaching to give targeted advice to enterprises that have previously bid on government contracts but have not been as successful as they could have been. The coaches provide information and tools that help guide companies through their bidding process.

When this government took office in 2015, one of the principles it wanted to reinforce was that Canadians should see themselves reflected in their government. Diversity and inclusion are crucial so that all Canadians feel they are participating in society. Can the minister elaborate on what actions her department has taken to help diversify the Canadian government's procurement process and to have the vendors and suppliers the government buys from better reflect the Canadian people it is serving, while advancing reconciliation?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Madam Chair, I would like to assure Canadians that I am fully committed to ensuring the diversity of the Government of Canada's procurement process. This is an extremely important initiative for me.

As part of our efforts to diversify, we have issued RFIs to gather input from Canadian Black businesses, businesses owned and operated by persons with disabilities, and businesses owned or led by members of the LGBTQ2+ community. We have held round table discussions with Black businesses and indigenous businesses to hear first-hand how we can increase their participation in the procurement process. In addition, through mandate commitments, we are going to continue to advance government-wide initiatives to increase diversity of bidders on government contracts. We are going to continue to move forward on other procurement commitments, including better tools, simpler processes and increased opportunities for diverse businesses.

We are making good progress on the indigenous procurement front. We are modelling this work with broader diversity objectives within the supply chain. We have a supplier diversity policy that came into force a year ago. That gives us more latitude in how we run procurement processes. We are now turning that into an actual program of work as to how we can use those flexibilities to increase the diversity in supply chains. There is a lot of outreach that is being done with different groups to try to make it easier, including e-procurement.

We developed a policy on social procurement to leverage purchasing power, to achieve socio-economic objectives and increase supplier diversity. The policy will contribute to reducing barriers and enhancing economic and social opportunities for under-represented groups, such as indigenous peoples, Black and racialized Canadians, women, LGBTQ2+ Canadians and other under-represented groups, including socio-economic objectives in federal procurement, which improves best value for Canadians by balancing spending with achieving important policy goals. This I spoke about before.

It is important for me. It is not just the right thing to do and the morally correct thing to do, but it is also the smart thing to do because once we open up opportunities, bring down barriers and have a level playing field, that creates a system where people who previously faced barriers are going to be supported. That is exactly why, at the end of the day, it is not just the right thing to do, but economically we can elevate, support and allow companies to have access and experience success, because we know the potential is there. We want to tap into and unleash that potential because we know the benefits that it is going to create.

We are currently asking suppliers to voluntarily self-declare if they identify with an under-represented group. This is in line with other self-attestation approaches used in the procurement process. We will work with other departments and under-represented businesses and associations to explore and improve the certification approach, including the consideration of third-party certification. These are some of the measures that we are taking in this regard.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Madam Chair, I wonder if the minister could speak to the work around therapeutics in the COVID-19 pandemic fight.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Chair, I am very pleased to say this is another tool. Vaccines, of course, are the most important, but to date, we have procured 1.7 million therapeutic treatments that we are giving to the provinces and territories. We received 155,722 treatment courses of Paxlovid. We are going to continue to receive these treatment courses and support provinces and territories. We know that this is an important tool, and I am happy to be able to support the provinces and territories in this regard.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time. My questions today will focus on procurement and human rights. The member for Scarborough—Guildwood, who is a member of the Liberal party, observed in the House yesterday that, “We have gone through a period of time in the last two or three years where we may have sourced goods which we, in other instances, may not or would not have sourced from dubious sources.”

Does the minister agree with her colleague?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Madam Chair, what I would say to that is that we do not want to procure any goods used where there is a violation of human rights. That is why we have taken the measures that we have in PSPC.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, that is zero for one in terms of answering the specific question I asked, which was whether she agreed with the comment from her colleague.

More specifically, I wonder if the minister can share when the government first became aware of significant concerns around forced labour with Supermax.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Chair, we were first advised of this in October 2021.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, according to British solicitor Nusrat Uddin's comments to CBC earlier this year, Canadian government officials were briefed on concerns about Supermax prior to 2015. Is that accurate?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Chair, I just want to correct it. It was December 2020. That was the time we were first made aware.

What I would say in this regard is that we take these allegations very seriously. When we hear of allegations, we act on those allegations.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, it sounds like she is saying that this British solicitor's comments were inaccurate and we will want to follow up on that later.

The hon. minister says the government found out about this in December 2020. When did the government actually end its contract with Supermax, and when was the last time it received supplies from Supermax?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Chair, what I would say is that as soon as we found out about the obligations, we stopped shipments. No more shipments were received. The contract was terminated subsequent to that.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, the minister said that the government first heard about these concerns in December 2020. Did the government immediately end shipments in December 2020?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Chair, it was in January 2021. That was when we ended shipments.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, is the government still doing business with Sinopharm?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Chair, Sinopharm provided a declaration to PSPC in April 2021. All deliveries were completed in December 2021.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, is the minister concerned about allegations of forced labour against Sinopharm, and when did the minister become aware of those allegations?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Chair, in 2018, we implemented the policy on ethical procurement of apparel. The contract security program provides security screening for personnel and organizations to safeguard protected classified information. PSPC, when contracting, includes—

[The Deputy Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, going back to Supermax, the British and American governments both discontinued purchases from Supermax long before the Canadian government did. The government claims that it only became aware of concerns about forced labour at Supermax after the Americans and the British had already discontinued purchases from Supermax.

Why was the government not following the policies of our allies in this respect?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Madam Chair, what I will confirm is that as soon as allegations are made clear to us, we respond to those and we take those allegations very seriously.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, if the U.S. and the British governments had discontinued purchases, and the minister says the Government of Canada was not even aware that there were allegations, how is it that we are so far behind our allies in terms of being aware of these concerns?