… caught my eye today:
- First, in the National Post, we learn that “A company in Quebec has been awarded $133,486,868 in sole-sourced federal orders to manufacture PPE even though it didn’t have a factory in Canada … [it seems that] … AMD Medicom Inc. [my hyperlink added] was given the ten-year contract and some MPs are now demanding to see the terms of the contract, according to a report by Blacklock’s Reporter on Tuesday … [and] … Jocelyn Bamford, president of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada, earlier told the Commons government operations committee … [that] … “As small and medium-sized businesses we want to know, does everybody have the same opportunity to produce personal protective equipment and sell it, or is the federal government picking winners and losers”?” My guess is that it is the government, or, mainly the Prime Minister’s Office, playing favourites again because the article goes on to say that, “Medicom received an initial $19,922,868 contract to ship masks from its factories in Augusta, Georgia as well as China, Taiwan and France … [then] … On April 26 it was given a $93,564,000 contract to make masks in Quebec but it
closed its last Canadian plant in 2019, in Granby, Que., in 2019 … [and that raised a question from Conservative MP Kelly Block ⇐] … “How many Canadian companies that we’ve contracted with have been 
given ten-year contracts similar to Medicom?” … [and Bill Matthews, ⇒ deputy minister of public works replied that] … “Medicom I think is the only ten-year contract I’m aware of” … [the National Post also says that] … Medicom has since received a $4 million loan from the Government of Québec to build a new 
factory in Montréal …. [and here’s the kicker] … the contractor hired was SNC-Lavalin Group Inc … [that’s right, the same SNC Lavalin that was at the centre of Prime Minister Trudeau’s 2019 ethic misstep, but] … Neither Medicom nor its federal sponsors would say how many masks the Montréal factory 
has produced to date … [and] … Mitch Davies, senior assistant deputy minister of industry, testified at a June 5 committee hearing that staff picked Medicom as a supplier without notice to competitors;” and - Second, Marieke Walsh, writing in the Globe and Mail, says that “The spouse of the Prime Minister’s chief of staff took part in a meeting with the Crown corporation responsible for the government’s commercial rent-relief program after the company where he
works was awarded the contract to administer the program, and before the contract was extended.” Ms Walsh writes that “Robert Silver, husband of Justin Trudeau’s most senior adviser, Katie Telford, started working at independent mortgage finance company MCAP in January, according to his LinkedIn profile. The social media page describes him as the company’s senior vice-president of strategy, policy and risk … [and] … MCAP was awarded a $56-million contract to administer the federal government’s Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Spokesperson Angelina Ritacco said the contract was signed on May 15. The program was extended in July, making it worth up to $84-million … [and Ms Ritacco added that] … Mr. Silver was part of a June 22 meeting with a CMHC communications staffer and MCAP regarding the public reporting of the application numbers.“
One has to ask: are there no limits to the influence that Team Trudeau ~ he and his favoured ministers and his closest advisors ~ will try to exert to ensure that they and their families and their friends benefit from being at the public trough?
