Government Operations committee  Regardless of the business, provided certain rules are complied with. Among other things, the amount of money involved in the complaint must be greater than a given amount.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  That's certainly outside the bounds of—

Government Operations committee  They cover the waterfront. I have been in my position as vice-chair for about a year and a half and I have seen complaints on everything from the provision of portable toilets to the delivery of Canada's food mail in the north.

Government Operations committee  Well, the subjects of the procurements vary greatly. The issues relate to whether the procurement has been carried out fairly.

Government Operations committee  Our decisions may be appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  They are sometimes appealed, yes.

Government Operations committee  That's right.

Government Operations committee  We work on the basis of the submissions that have been filed. They comprise the record, which is open to all the parties in the case. We tend to make our decisions based on the written record, but if a party is unhappy with our decision, winner or loser.... Sometimes I believe both the winner and the loser have appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal because they don't like a certain part of the decision.

Government Operations committee  Usually, from the moment the representatives of a company know there is a problem, they can try to resolve it with the department concerned. If there is no resolution, they can turn to the tribunal, but there are deadlines that must be very strictly observed. You have to file with the tribunal within 10 days after observing the problem.

Government Operations committee  The tribunal may have up to nine members, but we presently have seven. We have a chair, two vice-chairs, and four members. We are governor-in-council appointees. We may serve for a maximum of two terms, and the maximum of each term is five years, so the absolute maximum that any member or vice-chair or chair may serve is 10 years.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee. My name's Elaine Feldman, and as you said, I'm the vice-chair of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal. On my left is Reagan Walker, who is the tribunal's general counsel; and on my right, Randy Heggart, who's the director of procurement review at the tribunal.