Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today, just a few hours before we will vote to implement measures to make life more affordable for Quebeckers and Canadians.

The people of Trois-Rivières, along with people in the ridings of all my colleagues on both sides of the House, will be watching carefully to see what we do today. These measures will help put more money in Canadians' pockets. We hope that our opposition colleagues will vote with us.

As we said all morning, the Government of Canada accepts the findings of the Auditor General of Canada's latest report on the procurement of professional services. We take this report and all subsequent recommendations seriously. We remain fully committed to the fairness, openness and transparency in federal procurement practices. Simply put, we are committed to protecting the integrity of procurement.

In the last Parliament, parliamentarians, the Auditor General, multiple parliamentary committees and others undertook extensive work to examine and hold to account those who were found to have acted inappropriately. With new safeguards in place and serious action being taken to hold GC Strategies accountable, it is time to turn the page on the political games of the last Parliament. Let me be clear. Our new government believes that misconduct of any kind is unacceptable.

This is, in fact, a new government, with a new direction, a new leader and almost 40% new MPs. It received a strong mandate for change from Canadians. We will take a new approach to governing, one that includes a laser focus on fiscal discipline. We will also modernize procurement processes.

We are well aware of the issues around the procurement of professional services, in particular, that were uncovered through previous audits and investigations and again in the latest report.

The Auditor General made it clear that the right procurement rules are in place, but that federal organizations did not consistently follow procurement policies when awarding and managing contracts. We wholeheartedly agree that this is unacceptable.

It is important to note that the Auditor General did not make any new recommendations to the government. However, the report reinforces the previously identified issues in procurement practices, underlining the importance of clearly understanding and correctly applying existing policies. I can say that the government has already acted on past recommendations and continues to take strong steps in improving oversight and the management of federal procurement.

Public Services and Procurement Canada and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat are working closely with government departments and agencies to address the gaps identified in previous audits. This includes improving data collection, increasing transparency in procurement decisions, clarifying roles and responsibilities and strengthening oversight and accountability in procurement activities. We are making these changes to strengthen the federal procurement process, improve the way the government does business with suppliers and achieve the best value for Canadian taxpayers.

The findings of this report are very much in line with previous reports from the Auditor General relating to similar matters. Previous reports provided the government with important recommendations to improve the oversight and integrity of federal procurement, particularly in professional services. We are taking these lessons, and I can assure the House that we are working hard to apply them.

Over the past year, PSPC has taken concrete actions to strengthen oversight on all professional services contracts falling under its authority. In collaboration with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the department has acted swiftly to implement several measures, including improving evaluation requirements to ensure resources are appropriately qualified for the job, requiring suppliers to be more transparent about the prices and subcontractors they use, improving our own documentation when awarding contracts and authorizing tasks, and better specifying and documenting what needs to be done, as well as which projects and tasks contractors are working on.

This includes reducing risk in our buying processes, improving how we manage contracts and doing more to promote solution-based procurement approaches that would ensure we are always getting the best value for Canadians. The Auditor General had no additional recommendations for the government regarding this file.

The changes we have made predate the Auditor General's last report. In November 2023, following the revelation of the improper contract negotiations with GC Strategies, PSPC wrote to the government departments and agencies to inform them that it would be replacing all master-level user arrangements with client departments, agencies and Crown corporations. These arrangements set out conditions for access to select professional services methods of supply maintained by PSPC. As part of this process, PSPC and client departments have established new arrangements, which stipulate the use of new contract provisions to increase costing and subcontractor transparency. These new arrangements were circulated to the departments on January 31, 2024, and they are now in force. A more recent measure that just came into effect this month is the implementation of part 18 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2005. This gives the Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement exclusive authority over federal procurement.

That is not the end. On the contrary, departments and agencies will continue to exercise the authority to conduct their own procurement. However, the Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement can now revoke a department or agency's delegation if there is reason to believe that procurement rules are not being followed. More broadly, as circumstances dictate, the minister can mandate standard procurement processes across all federal departments and agencies.

Once again, I want to thank the Auditor General and her team for undertaking this review and for their findings and previous recommendations. This report affirms that we have the right policies and rules in place, but they need to be well understood and applied properly. In her report, the Auditor General found that federal procurement policies promote fairness, transparency and value for Canadians when they are followed. That is what the Auditor General said. The important thing is not to create more rules and red tape, but to ensure that all departments and agencies follow the rules that are in place. We will use evidence-based approaches to improve processes and ensure that the existing procurement rules are followed and properly documented each and every time.

Finally, let me be clear: This new government expects public servants and departments to operate with the highest standards and to always be mindful of optimizing the use of public resources for Canadians. We will learn from these reports and audits, and we will not hesitate to take bold, decisive action to ensure the best value for Canadian taxpayers in all government contracts.

Caroline Desrochers

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