(Return tabled) Question No. 452 Mr. Matthew Kellway: With regard to suppliers of garments and textiles that are manufactured outside Canada, in whole or in part, and which have been contracted by any agency or department of the government: (a) what is the process by which Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) may ask suppliers for evidence of compliance with local labour laws; (b) on how many occasions has PWGSC asked suppliers for evidence of compliance with local labour laws; (c) if PWGSC has ever requested evidence of supplier compliance with local labour laws, (i) which office within PWGSC initiated these requests and under whose authority, (ii) why were these requests initiated, (iii) when were these requests initiated ...[+++], (iv) were these requests for evidence limited in scope to the production process under the direct purview of the supplier, or did they extend to all inputs in the production process even if these inputs were contracted out or otherwise not directly manufactured by the supplier, (v) what type of evidence did PWGSC ask suppliers to provide, (vi) did PWGSC request that suppliers provide evidence verified by independent auditors or inspectors, (vii) did PWGSC ever give individuals from the public, organizations, or governments an opportunity to provide evidence about supplier compliance with local labour laws and to whom were these opportunities extended; (d) if suppliers have ever responded to requests made by the PWGSC for evidence of compliance with local labour laws, (i) how did suppliers respond to these requests, (ii) what information did suppliers provide as evidence, (iii) where and at which office are records of these responses kept, (iv) what method was used by PWGSC to ensure that evidence provided by these suppliers was accurate, (v) did PWGSC ever rely on the services of independent auditors or inspectors to verify the evidence provided by suppliers; (e) what is PWGSC’s policy toward suppliers that are not operating i ...

In 2007, as part of the Federal Accountability Act and the federal accountability action plan, Public Works and Government Services Canada added a code of conduct for procurement to its RFP documents as well as measures to render suppliers ineligible to bid on procurement contracts if they have been convicted of fraud or if they have paid a contingency fee to a person to whom the Lobbying Act applies.

From a supplier standpoint, there are 407 supplier locations providing parts to Chrysler manufacturing facilities.

45. Encourages Member States to draft codes of good commercial practices for the food chain, including complaint mechanisms and penalties for unfair practices; calls on the Commission to propose a common code, to apply throughout the EU, in order to rebalance relations in the food supply chain; urges also the Commission to make a proposal for applying an EU-wide mechanism for monitoring relations between dominant retailers and their suppliers through specialised bodies in the Member States;

46. Encourages Member States to draft codes of good commercial practices for the food chain, including complaint mechanisms and penalties for unfair practices; calls on the Commission to propose a common code, to apply throughout the EU, in order to rebalance relations in the food supply chain; urges also the Commission to make a proposal for applying an EU-wide mechanism for monitoring relations between dominant retailers and their suppliers through specialised bodies in the Member States;

CAAR's concern is not the merit of the codes or the competition from global suppliers, but the fact that regardless of where growers choose to buy, retailers will be required to perform extremely expensive site upgrades, which will only add additional cost to the input value chain and drive our customers further away from us and into the hands of foreign suppliers.