Finance committee  No.

Finance committee  I am very concerned that they have made the decision to delay their work or defer it. I will continue to be in constant dialogue with them because, as I mentioned back in March, when you delay prepayment controls, post-payment work becomes critical. I expect that if an individual received public funds in error, that recovery efforts would occur.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I wish to acknowledge that the lands on which we are gathered are part of the traditional unceded territory of the Anishinaabeg People. Thank you for this opportunity to contribute to the committee's study of Bill C‑2, An Act to provide further support in response to COVID‑19..

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  I believe that Public Services and Procurement Canada took reasonable risks but, as I said, not always in a good way. It wasn't perfect. There were some recommendations, for example, to ensure that financial viability be done whenever pre-payments are made on a contract. Even though you need to balance speed and risk, there are some basic elements that I believe should be done.

Government Operations committee  I believe, given the marketplace, that moving to mass bulk procurement in order to help respond to the needs was very responsive, and that the risks we saw taken in the contracts we evaluated were reasonable in the circumstances, yes.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Government Operations committee  Again, I believe the member should ask that question of Public Services and Procurement Canada.

Government Operations committee  For the categories, what is decided really does depend on the circumstances. It is a call made based on the supplier and the circumstances. I think that was, again, a judgment call the department made, and you should ask them about it.

Government Operations committee  I obviously think the right checks and balances need to be done to make sure that the federal government procures things in a fair way from reputable organizations and that they get value for money. In the middle of a pandemic they made certain judgment calls, and I believe you should ask them about those judgment calls.

Government Operations committee  Are you talking about Public Services and Procurement Canada?

Government Operations committee  As I said, we looked at a fraction of the contracts. We looked at 39 because we were targeting contracts that included one of the personal protective equipments that we scoped in. While the process wasn't perfect—because we had recommendations—I believe that some of the risks they took were reasonable in the context of securing personal protective equipment in a market where supply was not often keeping up with the demand.

Government Operations committee  I think we were balanced. We clearly noted that the national emergency strategic stockpile was not ready and that the Public Health Agency had not acted on issues that it had known about for decades. We then saw during the pandemic the reactive response that helped meet the needs of provinces and territories.

Government Operations committee  Yes, they have. They committed to taking actions in 2010, 2013 and now again. I do hope they do that.

Government Operations committee  We can't. I think you'd have to ask the department.