Scott Brison

[Sponsorship Program, September 29th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that there are several ongoing RCMP investigations and Public Works has cooperated fully with the RCMP.

Beyond that—

[Sponsorship Program, September 29th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday that hon. member said on the floor of the House of Commons that in fact the information that was voluntarily provided by Public Works to the RCMP in full cooperation with the ongoing investigations of the RCMP was in fact withheld from the Gomery inquiry.

He was wrong. In fact, that information had been provided to the Gomery inquiry on at least two occasions previously. In fact, over 28 million pages of documents have been provided by the Government of Canada to the Gomery commission.

That hon. member should rise and apologize to the House.

[Sponsorship Program, September 29th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands actually claimed that Public Works provided information to the RCMP that had been withheld from the Gomery commission. I said yesterday in the House and I will repeat again today in the House that the information provided to the RCMP to help cooperate with their ongoing investigations was provided in fact twice to the Gomery commission.

That hon. member ought to rise in the House and correct what he said yesterday because he was wrong when he tried to bring disrepute on the work of Justice Gomery.

[Sponsorship Program, September 28th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am informed that last week the RCMP contacted Public Works and in fact Public Works provided an invoice to the RCMP, an invoice that was provided twice to the Gomery inquiry previously.

This is part of over 10 million pages of documents that have been provided to the Gomery inquiry. Therefore, the hon. member, in his claim that this information was not provided to the Gomery inquiry, is in fact wrong. I would urge the hon. member to not play fast and loose with the truth here on the floor of the House of Commons.

[Public Works and Government Services Canada, September 28th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we have finished the review of this procurement. Based on our re-evaluation of the original 22 unsuccessful bids, we have concluded that six can now be added to the list because they qualify for the procurement package. In fact, we have addressed this problem.

We have resolved the situation and we comply with the Official Languages Act at all times.

[Government Contracts, September 28th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, no, the minister cannot confirm that because this in fact has not occurred to the knowledge of the minister.

[Government Contracts, September 28th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I believe what the hon. member is referring to is the area of public opinion research. It is important to recognize that the Auditor General has recognized that with the public opinion research the government has conducted itself appropriately. In fact, the government has strengthened management of both advertising and public opinion research. These changes create more competition and improve the value for the Canadian taxpayer that we receive from these suppliers for the department. We are strengthening our governance and ensuring the best possible value for all Canadian taxpayers.

[Official Languages, September 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we are reviewing this procurement process. If it is determined that bidders were disqualified due solely to the discrepancy between French and English versions of the RFP, then we will move swiftly to add all those bidders to the supplier list.

We intend to take care of this problem immediately, and we fully support the Official Languages Act.

[Official Languages, September 26th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, let me assure all members of the House that this is a tremendous priority for our government to ensure that translation services are delivered in a reasonable way, and that in fact accuracy in all our endeavours is guaranteed throughout the process. We are taking this very seriously. I can assure the hon. member and all members of the House that we are dealing with this quickly.

[Official Languages, September 26th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, public works is presently reviewing the bid documentation to ensure fairness to all in the evaluation process.

As a result of the recent RFP on this program, the department received 35 bids and issued 13 contracts to deliver the EnerGuide for housing service across the province of Quebec. Each winning bidder has an office in the province of Quebec and each is required to provide the service in the language of the homeowners choice.

Once again, we are reviewing the bid documentation process to ensure fairness and will be dealing with this appropriately.