QUESTION PERIOD — Public Services and Procurement
Procurement Process
November 9, 2023
Senator Gold, we know that Justin Trudeau is not worth the cost but we also see that he has a hard time with transparency and accountability.
On Tuesday, the Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA, announced the suspension of contracts with three companies caught up in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, investigation of “ArriveScam.” First, why only the CBSA? These companies have several contracts with many Trudeau departments at all levels of government. Second, why was it only done now? Why not when the RCMP investigation began? Why not when the whistle-blowers, more than two years ago, brought this information to public light?
Last week, when Minister Blair was before this committee, he promised to get back to us in regards to Dalian contracts in his very own department. Why does it take days and weeks to get simple information from this government? Are you able to provide this chamber information in regard to whether the Department of National Defence, or DND, and Minister Blair’s suspending of its contracts with Dalian, CORDEX and GC Strategies will occur? It’s a simple yes or no. When will we cancel the contracts with these companies?
Thank you for your question. The minister made an undertaking to this chamber, and I have every confidence that he will honour that.
As I said on many occasions, honourable senators, any misconduct in relation to the procurement process is unacceptable. That is why the RCMP is investigating. That is why the contracts have been suspended. Until the results of those investigations are complete and made public, no further comment is forthcoming.
You can avoid some RCMP investigations if your government were forthcoming with transparent information.
During testimony in the House of Commons last week, we heard that the order to go with GC Strategies was given from above. We also heard that the person who carried the water for the government and gave this order got a promotion without any public tender or any public or competitive process.
My question is very simple: Did this promotion happen because this person helped Liberal insiders line their pockets? At the end of the day, why should decent, law-abiding citizens always get caught up in Liberal scams?
These are allegations and are not substantiated. For whatever reasons this promotion was given, I’m sure it was for similar reasons that the previous government gave promotions to that very same person on a number of occasions.
