Evidence of meeting #133 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was projects.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:20 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
I see you did not issue a call for tenders. You awarded the contract to review the projects directly to Deloitte.
4:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
Well, the engagement with Deloitte was conducted through an RFP. That RFP process actually happened in the fall, and they've been assisting us. There was a competitive process.
4:20 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
I'm talking specifically about what you're describing. You are reviewing all the projects to see whether they are eligible. You mentioned that there was another party.
Is Deloitte going to review the 100 or so projects in your portfolio, yes or no?
4:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
Currently, what we're trying to understand is whether Deloitte—with which we have an engagement currently to help us through the MRAP process, and that engagement was competitively bid on—has the resources to help us move quickly to be able to assess eligibility.
4:20 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Will you verify that Deloitte's staff do not have a conflict of interest with the hundreds of companies in your portfolio? Again, it's a yes or no question.
There is a conflict of interest vetting process, because Deloitte employees may also have conflicts of interest with companies that are in the portfolio. How will you ensure that the company that reviews the eligibility of projects doesn't have a conflict of interest?
4:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I understand your question regarding the conflicts that Deloitte may have with the individual portfolio companies.
That is a process that Deloitte engages in for every company that it reviews as part of our process. They have a risk management process that requires client acceptance review and ensuring that they have no conflicts—that is, no other consulting work, taxation work and things of that nature—prior to being able to do the review that we'd be asking for.
4:20 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Deloitte's conflict of interest process is related not to the companies in your portfolio, but to its client, Sustainable Development Technology Canada.
4:20 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Yes, it is. I worked at Deloitte. I spent a good part of my career there. It's done with the client.
It is the client acceptance engagement process.
It's done with the client, not with the third party, in this case the companies connected to the hundreds of projects. Otherwise, it's true, you would not get many people.
I'm asking you once again what your practices will be to ensure that there is no conflict of interest between the employees who review project eligibility and Deloitte. It's a pretty straightforward question.
If you can't give me an answer now, please send one to the committee in writing.
4:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I, too, understand the conflict of interest process that Deloitte goes through with the client they engage. However, due to the number of companies that we have Deloitte reviewing, Deloitte has been going through the process of reviewing their conflict of interest for each individual company in our portfolio, and they cannot opine on the eligibility for those companies.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
Thank you very much.
Up next is Mr. Green.
You have the floor for two and a half minutes.
4:20 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Thank you very much.
I'm going to put two questions to you, Ms. Urie, that are going to be yes-or-no questions.
The first question is, does the contribution agreement require SDTC to transparently provide the public with its application criteria and funding streams so that anyone in the public can apply for funding?
4:25 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
Yes, that is an element of the contribution—
4:25 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Did SDTC provide the public with any information or opportunity to apply for the funding through the ecosystem fund?
4:25 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
Not that I'm aware of.
4:25 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Then how was board chair Verschuren's centre selected for funding review in a fair manner if the public never had information about the fund's existence?
4:25 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
My understanding is that the ecosystem stream was a pilot. It was a stream to be able to understand if there was an appetite or whether—
4:25 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I believe it was an initiative of the former CEO.
4:25 p.m.
NDP
4:25 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
No, the ecosystem stream was to look for projects, and that was an initiative of our former CEO.
4:25 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Similarly, then, how was the CEO's ALICE project selected for funding review in a fair manner if the public never had any information that these funds existed?
4:25 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
My understanding is that the ALICE project was referred to SDTC by Emissions Reduction Alberta, so it was from another funding agency.
4:25 p.m.
NDP
4:25 p.m.
Vice-President, Finance, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
That is correct.