DISSENTING OPINION ON GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING... IN CANADA AND QUEBEC
SUBMITTED BY THE BLOC QUÉBÉCOIS
APRIL 1997
The issue of federal government contracting for goods and services has long been of interest to the Bloc Québécois. Together with all the members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, we heard a great deal of evidence that was highly critical of government contracting, which was denounced as inefficient and inequitable.
Since the Liberals came to power, despite their fine words, contracting methods have hardly changed at all from the murky practices followed during the Conservative era. It is a disturbing fact that fully 37% of the $8.6 billion spent by the federal government on contracts in 1994-1995 was for sole-source or non-competitive contracts. The Liberal majority, like the Bloc Québécois members, could not but take notice of the poor record.
Nonetheless, the Bloc Québécois acknowledges that the report by the Liberal majority is a step in the right direction, with its recommendations, its admission of the government's failure during the term that is drawing to a close, and its analysis of the situation. The Bloc Québécois endorses all of the measures proposed by the Liberal majority on the Committee.
The Official Opposition did, however, feel it was necessary to draft a dissenting opinion highlighting one aspect of government contracting that has never been explored by federal or federalist parliamentarians. For a long time, or at least for as long as there have been accurate statistics, Quebec has been at a disadvantage in terms of federal spending on goods and services as a whole.
From 1981 to 1994, Quebec's share of the total amount contracted out by the federal government was 19.9%, while its demographic weight in the Canadian federation was 25.6% - resulting in a shortfall of more than $19 billion over that period. During the same timeframe, Ontario recorded a surplus of $10 billion, receiving 39.6% of federal goods and services contracts, while it had 36.5% of the Canadian population.
In 1994 alone, Quebec recorded a shortfall of $1.23 billion in federal government goods and services contracts, while Ontario recorded a surplus of $912 million.
In order to understand the significance for Quebec of the shortfall resulting from inequities in the federal government's purchases of goods and services, it is worthwhile to estimate the number of jobs lost to Quebec because of the unfair geographical distribution of federal contracts. In 1994, the shortfall of $1.23 billion meant that 22,000 jobs were not created in Quebec. If the federal government were to distribute its goods and services contracts equitably, Quebec's unemployment rate would swiftly drop by more than 1%.
Until Quebec is finally treated equitably, after a referendum in favour of sovereignty, the Bloc Québécois demands that the geographical inequity in the federal government's awarding of goods and services contracts be given prominence and that Quebec receive, at the very least, its fair share.