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May/19/22 8:14:21 p.m.
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Madam Chair, actually, last year, the government purchased $20 million in goods, not including the cloud services, from Amazon. This year alone, year to date, in just two months it is $10 million. How is buying from Amazon supporting small businesses?

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Hon. Filomena Tassi

May/19/22 8:14:42 p.m.
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Madam Chair, these are all small transactions, which is the result of the numbers the member is speaking about.

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Mr. Kelly McCauley

May/19/22 8:14:53 p.m.
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Madam Chair, an Order Paper response showed over 7,000 pages of purchases from Amazon instead of from small businesses. Amazon's market cap is $1.5 trillion. How is this a Canadian small business?

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Hon. Filomena Tassi

May/19/22 8:15:09 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the web services are the big-ticket item. The smaller items are items like pencils and things like that.

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Mr. Kelly McCauley

May/19/22 8:15:19 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that is not the case. The large majority of dollars in purchases from Amazon are not for web services, and the Order Paper response provided by the government shows that. Why is the government spending so much on Amazon and not on small Canadian businesses?

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Hon. Filomena Tassi

May/19/22 8:15:39 p.m.
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Madam Chair, actually, we are absolutely supporting small and medium-sized businesses. As I have said, 42% of COVID spending with respect to procurement was for Canadian domestic businesses. We have entered into major contracts. Millions of masks are being produced locally here and we are going to continue to do that.

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Mr. Kelly McCauley

May/19/22 8:15:59 p.m.
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Madam Chair, there is $32 million in purchases from small businesses for direct non-cloud services, and about $20 million for cloud. That is the truth, right from the government's own numbers. Amazon has sold items promoting Xinjiang cotton, three of which directly use forced labour. Will the minister immediately end all government Amazon purchases and buy from local Canadian businesses instead?

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Hon. Filomena Tassi

May/19/22 8:16:25 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to add, with respect to the support for small businesses, that we have Procurement Assistance Canada. It helps small businesses, as I spoke about earlier this evening, to navigate in order to procure goods. We are going to continue to support them.

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Mr. Kelly McCauley

May/19/22 8:16:42 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the House voted unanimously that what the Communist Chinese government was doing to the Uighurs was genocide. I will repeat the question. Amazon is selling items purchased from Xinjiang that are knowingly using forced labour. Will the minister immediately end purchases from Amazon and send those purchases to small and medium enterprises?

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Hon. Filomena Tassi

May/19/22 8:17:06 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we have provisions in our contracts now that do not permit forced labour to be used, and if it is used we can terminate the contract.

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Mr. Kelly McCauley

May/19/22 8:17:16 p.m.
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Madam Chair, will the minister immediately terminate all purchases from Amazon, seeing as it is selling items made with forced labour?

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Hon. Filomena Tassi

May/19/22 8:17:24 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we will continue to work to enforce the terms of our contracts to ensure that there is no forced labour and that the obligations of the contract are fulfilled.

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Mr. Kelly McCauley

May/19/22 8:17:38 p.m.
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Madam Chair, Panasonic has received $32 million in contracts from the Liberal government despite sourcing materials from factories using Uighur labour. Panasonic has refused to alter its practice. Will the Liberal government immediately stop buying from companies using forced labour?

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Hon. Filomena Tassi

May/19/22 8:17:56 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am pleased to talk about the progress we have made with forced labour. PSPC has now put in a code of conduct that has to be signed. There are provisions in the contracts that say if there is forced labour, we have the opportunity to terminate the contract. We are going to continue to move forward in this regard because we are absolutely against forced labour and—

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The Deputy Chair

May/19/22 8:18:15 p.m.
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The hon. member.

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Mr. Kelly McCauley

May/19/22 8:18:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, if the government was against it, it would listen to me and the companies that I have noted. BYD received a quarter-million dollar contract from the government. Its supplier uses Uighur forced labour transferred forcibly from south Xinjiang, where mandatory unpaid labour follows years of educational transformation in concentration camps. Why?

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Hon. Filomena Tassi

May/19/22 8:18:42 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have been very clear that in the contracts we will not procure goods that use forced labour. If the member has evidence that forced labour is being used, he should share that information and we will look at it. We are not going to procure goods that use forced labour and we take the allegations very seriously.

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Mr. Kelly McCauley

May/19/22 8:19:04 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have been sharing it this evening and the minister has refused to rule out buying from these companies. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has identified dozens of companies that have knowingly used forced labour goods in their supply chains. These companies, according to the government's own Buyandsell website, have received hundreds of millions in contracts from the Liberal government. If my office, with one person, can find all of this information, why can PSPC, with all of its resources, not find the same information and stop sending Canadian taxpayer dollars to buy services made with forced labour?

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Hon. Filomena Tassi

May/19/22 8:19:41 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we have taken action on forced labour. We take the allegations very seriously. We have implemented clauses in our contracts. We have a code of conduct that has to be signed. In fact, we are one of two countries, the U.S. and us, that have expanded CUSMA obligations with respect to forced labour to all imports. We have taken action. We take this seriously. It is in four ministers' mandate letters. I look forward to moving forward and supporting the Minister of Labour as he leads on the legislation for the eradication of forced labour.

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Ms. Joanne Thompson (St. John's East, Lib.)

May/19/22 8:20:22 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am pleased to have the opportunity to address this committee to discuss the procurement activities of the Government of Canada and how these are being leveraged to meet our goals for equity. I believe every member of the House would agree that the government wields considerable buying power as one of the largest public buyers of goods and services in this country. Every year, Public Services and Procurement Canada manages or facilitates approximately 23 billion dollars' worth of contracts for goods and services. Our procurement activities keep the government functioning so it can serve and protect all Canadians. These procurements generate economic activity and bring money into the hands of Canadian companies, sustaining many thousands of jobs in cities and towns all across this country and contributing to our prosperity as a nation. Government procurement has always been an important catalyst for change, and the opportunities it provides have never been more evident than they are today. It is our focus as a government to bring our purchasing power to bear as we work to improve the way the government buys goods and services to support Canadians. While our economy is making a strong recovery, we know the pandemic has affected the lives and livelihoods of so many across our country and around the world. Most recently, our bulk procurements of rapid tests, vaccines and therapeutics have helped Canada respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, a top priority for our government. We have also seen how these economic hardships have affected some communities more than others. For members of under-represented groups in this country, the pandemic is just the latest in a long history of tragic events that have led us further and further from the image of equality that we want to see for Canada. There is still so much work to be done if Canada is to become a country with equal opportunities for everyone. As this government finishes the fight against COVID-19, we are committed to creating an environment where all Canadians can benefit from a robust economic recovery. That means ensuring that those who are facing systemic barriers to success are able to successfully participate in federal procurement and benefit from our considerable buying power. That is exactly what we have been doing in recent years. We have been consulting businesses led by indigenous people, Black Canadians, other racialized Canadians, women, LGBTQ2+ Canadians and Canadians with disabilities. These discussions have informed us, and we have developed concrete plans to increase their representation in federal procurement to better reflect our country and society. I would like to now take a few minutes to explain in detail our actions to attract a wider diversity in suppliers to government. This government remains committed to building progress to address the inequalities that exist between indigenous and non-indigenous people. As we continue to walk the path of reconciliation, we are working to help indigenous communities seize economic opportunities and promote self-determination. This past August, we announced that our government is implementing a mandatory requirement for federal departments and agencies to ensure that a minimum of 5% of the value of their contracts is held by businesses managed and led by first nations, Inuit and Métis people. The new requirement will be phased in, and we expect it to be fully implemented by 2024. It will be mandatory to report publicly on our progress against this target. I would like to make it clear that when it comes to ensuring that indigenous-owned and indigenous-led businesses are full partners in government contracting, the 5% requirement is the floor, not the ceiling. We will continue to work actively with indigenous groups to increase their participation in federal procurement more broadly. I would like to remind members of the House that even as this government worked tirelessly to acquire supplies and equipment to support Canada's frontline health care workers and all Canadians during the pandemic, we were also creating opportunities for businesses led and managed by indigenous people. To date, 41 self-identified indigenous businesses have contributed to the government's pandemic response through contracts awarded by Public Services and Procurement Canada for goods and services collectively worth about $197 million. These contracts represent vital services that include logistics, air charter services, accommodation, cleaning services and IT professional services. They also represent much-needed goods, such as medical and laboratory supplies, masks, hand sanitizers and thermometers, contributing to more than 2.7 billion pieces of personal protective equipment acquired by the government since the beginning of the pandemic. By increasing contracting opportunities, we are able to generate economic prosperity in communities that have not traditionally shared in this country's economic wealth. As we have said many times, this government is committed to reconciliation. That includes increasing the participation of indigenous-led businesses in the federal procurement process, and helping them to succeed and grow. Our plan is also to continue addressing barriers faced by other groups that are under-represented in Canada's business community: Black and racialized Canadians, women, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ2+ Canadians. In January, Public Services and Procurement Canada launched the supplier diversity action plan, which includes concrete steps to increase the participation of businesses from under-represented groups in federal procurement. The foundation for this plan was the result of a number of pilot projects. One of these projects involved opening select bidding opportunities in several regions for various goods and services to Black-owned and operated businesses. The department then invited a number of these businesses to answer an online questionnaire about their experiences with federal procurement. This information has been helping PSPC improve efforts to attract more Black-owned and operated businesses to offer their goods and services to government. A cornerstone of the supplier diversity action plan is the policy on social procurement. This policy demonstrates our government's commitment to using procurement toward greater economic and social opportunities for under-represented groups. The policy empowers procurement specialists to pursue this objective in their day-to-day work. By enacting this policy, our government is making it clear that including more under-represented groups among our suppliers is now a core objective of our procurement function. I would like to highlight some of the ways in which our government is working to increase the participation of women-owned and led businesses in federal procurement. Encouraging women-owned and led businesses to do business with government will help ensure that our economic recovery after the pandemic will be strong and inclusive. To help increase diversity and social procurement, Public Services and Procurement Canada is providing education and assistance on federal procurements to under-represented groups across Canada through the Procurement Assistance Canada service, formerly known as the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises. Small and medium-sized businesses can take advantage of webinars, seminars and events organized by regional offices across the country to learn more about how to do business with government. In addition, as part of the supplier diversity action plan that I mentioned earlier, these offices now offer personalized coaching to give targeted advice to enterprises that have previously bid on government contracts but have not been as successful as they could have been. The coaches provide information and tools that help guide companies through their bidding process. When this government took office in 2015, one of the principles it wanted to reinforce was that Canadians should see themselves reflected in their government. Diversity and inclusion are crucial so that all Canadians feel they are participating in society. Can the minister elaborate on what actions her department has taken to help diversify the Canadian government's procurement process and to have the vendors and suppliers the government buys from better reflect the Canadian people it is serving, while advancing reconciliation?

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