QUESTION PERIOD — Public Services and Procurement
Procurement Process
February 27, 2024
Leader, the outsourcing of Canada Emergency Business Account, or CEBA, programs to Accenture was revealed a year ago. Ever since, the Trudeau government has provided incorrect information about these secret contracts. The Trudeau government originally said that the contracts were worth $61 million, but that was incorrect. It was actually $208 million.
The Trudeau government originally said that the Accenture employees working on CEBA were mostly based in Canada with just four in the U.S., but that was incorrect. They now admit that 46 people are based in Brazil with the Accenture subsidiary.
Leader, the Trudeau government currently claims the workforce in Brazil won’t have access to the financial information of Canadian small businesses. Given your track record, why should Canadians believe this claim is accurate?
Thank you for your question. I did my best to answer the questions raised the other day on this and I have nothing further to add.
It is important that the work done by Canadian companies, regardless of who else they employ in this increasingly globalized work, be done properly and that Canadians’ privacy and rights to their data are fully protected. The government expects that to be the case in each and every contract that it awards.
If proper oversight of these contracts existed, Canadians would have been given accurate and reliable information on how $208 million was spent.
The Trudeau government now claims that only workers at Export Development Canada and Accenture handle the data of Canadian small businesses. Leader, could you confirm that all of the workers handling this sensitive information have security clearances?
I am certainly not in a position to confirm that. I don’t have information in that respect, but I will certainly raise this with the appropriate minister.
