Jean-Yves Laforest moved, — That the motion be amended by:
a) replacing the words “and that, Access to Information requests have shown that the Minister of Finance has offered untendered contracts valued at $24,900 to Conservative Party supporters in order to by-pass Treasury Board guidelines requiring public tender for contracts valued at $25,000;” with the words “and that, information obtained under the Access to Information Act shows that the Minister of Finance has awarded a number of contracts worth between $24,000 and $24,900, just under the amount at which contracts must be tendered, without a competitive process;”
b) by deleting the words “and that despite these violations, the Honourable Vic Toews, President of the Treasury Board has taken no actions to sanction the Minister of Finance”; and
c) by replacing the words “the Public Accounts Committee call the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, the Honourable Vic Toews, President of the Treasury Board, Rob Wright, Deputy Minister of Finance, Wayne Wouters, Secretary of the Treasury Board, Hugh MacPhie and Sara Beth Mintz to appear as witnesses in order to further study these violations of Treasury Board guidelines” with the words “The Public Accounts Committee has asked the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, the Honourable Vic Toews, Treasury Board President, Rob Wright, Deputy Minister of the Department of Finance, Wayne Wouters, Secretary of the Treasury Board, Hugh MacPhie and Sara Beth Mintz to appear before it in order for the Committee to look into these practices, which appear to be inconsistent with Treasury Board guidelines”.
Debate arose thereon.