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House Hansard - 75

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 19, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 75 - May/19/22
Hon. Filomena Tassi (Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Lib.)
  • May/19/22 8:30:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to assure Canadians that I am fully committed to ensuring the diversity of the Government of Canada's procurement process. This is an extremely important initiative for me. As part of our efforts to diversify, we have issued RFIs to gather input from Canadian Black businesses, businesses owned and operated by persons with disabilities, and businesses owned or led by members of the LGBTQ2+ community. We have held round table discussions with Black businesses and indigenous businesses to hear first-hand how we can increase their participation in the procurement process. In addition, through mandate commitments, we are going to continue to advance government-wide initiatives to increase diversity of bidders on government contracts. We are going to continue to move forward on other procurement commitments, including better tools, simpler processes and increased opportunities for diverse businesses. We are making good progress on the indigenous procurement front. We are modelling this work with broader diversity objectives within the supply chain. We have a supplier diversity policy that came into force a year ago. That gives us more latitude in how we run procurement processes. We are now turning that into an actual program of work as to how we can use those flexibilities to increase the diversity in supply chains. There is a lot of outreach that is being done with different groups to try to make it easier, including e-procurement. We developed a policy on social procurement to leverage purchasing power, to achieve socio-economic objectives and increase supplier diversity. The policy will contribute to reducing barriers and enhancing economic and social opportunities for under-represented groups, such as indigenous peoples, Black and racialized Canadians, women, LGBTQ2+ Canadians and other under-represented groups, including socio-economic objectives in federal procurement, which improves best value for Canadians by balancing spending with achieving important policy goals. This I spoke about before. It is important for me. It is not just the right thing to do and the morally correct thing to do, but it is also the smart thing to do because once we open up opportunities, bring down barriers and have a level playing field, that creates a system where people who previously faced barriers are going to be supported. That is exactly why, at the end of the day, it is not just the right thing to do, but economically we can elevate, support and allow companies to have access and experience success, because we know the potential is there. We want to tap into and unleash that potential because we know the benefits that it is going to create. We are currently asking suppliers to voluntarily self-declare if they identify with an under-represented group. This is in line with other self-attestation approaches used in the procurement process. We will work with other departments and under-represented businesses and associations to explore and improve the certification approach, including the consideration of third-party certification. These are some of the measures that we are taking in this regard.
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Ms. Joanne Thompson
  • May/19/22 8:34:28 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I wonder if the minister could speak to the work around therapeutics in the COVID-19 pandemic fight.
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:34:43 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am very pleased to say this is another tool. Vaccines, of course, are the most important, but to date, we have procured 1.7 million therapeutic treatments that we are giving to the provinces and territories. We received 155,722 treatment courses of Paxlovid. We are going to continue to receive these treatment courses and support provinces and territories. We know that this is an important tool, and I am happy to be able to support the provinces and territories in this regard.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)
  • May/19/22 8:35:19 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time. My questions today will focus on procurement and human rights. The member for Scarborough—Guildwood, who is a member of the Liberal party, observed in the House yesterday that, “We have gone through a period of time in the last two or three years where we may have sourced goods which we, in other instances, may not or would not have sourced from dubious sources.” Does the minister agree with her colleague?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi (Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Lib.)
  • May/19/22 8:35:40 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what I would say to that is that we do not want to procure any goods used where there is a violation of human rights. That is why we have taken the measures that we have in PSPC.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:35:52 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that is zero for one in terms of answering the specific question I asked, which was whether she agreed with the comment from her colleague. More specifically, I wonder if the minister can share when the government first became aware of significant concerns around forced labour with Supermax.
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:36:05 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we were first advised of this in October 2021.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:36:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, according to British solicitor Nusrat Uddin's comments to CBC earlier this year, Canadian government officials were briefed on concerns about Supermax prior to 2015. Is that accurate?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:36:24 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I just want to correct it. It was December 2020. That was the time we were first made aware. What I would say in this regard is that we take these allegations very seriously. When we hear of allegations, we act on those allegations.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:36:41 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it sounds like she is saying that this British solicitor's comments were inaccurate and we will want to follow up on that later. The hon. minister says the government found out about this in December 2020. When did the government actually end its contract with Supermax, and when was the last time it received supplies from Supermax?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:37:01 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what I would say is that as soon as we found out about the obligations, we stopped shipments. No more shipments were received. The contract was terminated subsequent to that.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:37:15 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the minister said that the government first heard about these concerns in December 2020. Did the government immediately end shipments in December 2020?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:37:30 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it was in January 2021. That was when we ended shipments.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:37:38 p.m.
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Madam Chair, is the government still doing business with Sinopharm?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:37:43 p.m.
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Madam Chair, Sinopharm provided a declaration to PSPC in April 2021. All deliveries were completed in December 2021.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:37:55 p.m.
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Madam Chair, is the minister concerned about allegations of forced labour against Sinopharm, and when did the minister become aware of those allegations?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:38:03 p.m.
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Madam Chair, in 2018, we implemented the policy on ethical procurement of apparel. The contract security program provides security screening for personnel and organizations to safeguard protected classified information. PSPC, when contracting, includes—
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The Deputy Chair
  • May/19/22 8:38:18 p.m.
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The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:38:20 p.m.
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Madam Chair, going back to Supermax, the British and American governments both discontinued purchases from Supermax long before the Canadian government did. The government claims that it only became aware of concerns about forced labour at Supermax after the Americans and the British had already discontinued purchases from Supermax. Why was the government not following the policies of our allies in this respect?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:38:42 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what I will confirm is that as soon as allegations are made clear to us, we respond to those and we take those allegations very seriously.
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