Madam Speaker, the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan talks about common sense. My mother used to say that common sense is not all that common, and every time I hear him speak, I realize how right my mother was.

Our government takes its responsibility as stewards of the public purse very seriously, and we are committed to making sure that government spending stands up to the highest levels of scrutiny. We welcome and accept the findings and recommendations of the Auditor General with regard to her most recent report on the procurement of professional services. The findings are very much in line with several previous internal and external reviews.

Let me remind the member across the way that independent audits of McKinsey found no evidence of political interference. The joint Treasury Board and Public Services and Procurement Canada review, however, reinforced that there are always opportunities to further improve and strengthen the Government of Canada's procurement practices, and that is exactly what we have done.

PSPC is the federal government's central purchasing agent and is committed to conducting procurements in an open, fair and transparent manner. Of course, the Government of Canada already has solid regulations, procedures and guidelines in place to make sure that happens in every department. However, we are always looking for ways to continuously improve our processes, to make them more rigorous and to ensure decisions and justifications are properly documented along the way.

To that end, PSPC has already instituted several changes. These include introducing a mandatory requirement for all contracting authorities to retain all and any documents related to contractual decisions for professional services. They also include changing how the department administers non-competitive national master standing offers by ensuring justifications are on file and that a challenge function occurs. In addition, the department has created a new position of chief, contract quality assurance and records compliance. This will help to ensure that critical elements of decision-making throughout the procurement process are properly documented, that guidelines and tools are put in place and that quality is being actively monitored. These efforts are consistent with PSPC's commitment to continuously improving government procurement practices more broadly, and I can say that we will keep looking for ways to strengthen the integrity of government procurement.

Regarding the Auditor General's June 2024 report, we accept her recommendation to further strengthen measures to appropriately report and monitor potential conflicts of interest. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat now has new mandatory procedures that provide an additional check and balance for managers to reinforce their responsibilities and accountabilities when undertaking professional services procurement activities. As a department that has a proactive and rigorous process to identify conflicts of interest in the procurement process, PSPC is supporting the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat in the implementation of its new mandatory procedures.

I want to thank the Auditor General and her team for undertaking this review and for their findings and valuable recommendations. They will help us continue to improve our processes and ultimately strengthen the integrity of federal procurement and professional services. Our government will always do all that is possible to ensure the best value for Canadian taxpayers with all government procurements.

James Maloney

$586,903.00