Quebec spends millions of dollars of your money every year on credit cards. Personal purchases with public funds, hidden contracts, interest charges for cards paid late, questionable expenses; our Bureau of Investigation discovered serious deficiencies in the management of these government cards.
Although the government claims to favor local purchasing, the frequent use of credit cards benefits web giants, such as Amazon, to the point where this platform sits at the top of ministry suppliers with this payment method.
In 2022, the Minister of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, passed a law to encourage local commerce.
“As the main buyer in Quebec, the State must set an example,” she said. Last year, it already drew up a first positive assessment with Quebec purchases on the rise.
Our analysis, however, shows that credit card purchases are a blind spot for the government.
Since 2021, departments have spent at least $2.2 million on Amazon, double that of the second-ranked company, VIA Rail. Another American giant, Apple, is in fifth place.
Photo AFP
“For every dollar invested in a company here, there are 66 cents that remain in the economy but if we go through the web giants, there are only 8 cents that remain in the economy,” underlines François Vincent, vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
The government would thus deprive the Quebec economy of $1.2 million, according to this calculation.
Office items
Civil servants mostly turn to Amazon to purchase office supplies: headphones, cables, computer keyboards, footrests, ink cartridges, etc.
“This supplier makes it possible, in certain cases, to meet demand at a reasonable cost and within a short period of time,” explains Sarah Bensadoun, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, whose purchases on this platform are among the highest in the government. .
She cites as an example two transactions totaling more than $10,000 for some 830 shockproof and waterproof iPhone cases and screen protectors that were purchased in 2021 and 2022.
The items could be delivered quickly and the cost was “significantly lower compared to other suppliers”, illustrates Mme Bensadoun.
However, the CFIB warns against the preconceived idea that products are “systematically” cheaper on Amazon. “That’s false,” said Mr. Vincent.
However, he agrees that our companies struggle to compete with the speed of delivery and the marketing power of Amazon.
No directive
Even though the law specifies that local companies must be favored, each ministry is responsible for establishing its own purchasing “strategy”.
“There is no specific directive concerning the choice of suppliers or the choice of payment methods to be used by ministries in the context of their purchases,” specifies the Treasury Board.
The latter ensures that all public organizations have been made aware of responsible Quebec or regional purchasing.
The MTQ claims that “numerous communications” were sent to its employees.
“A note specifically relating to local purchases was sent to all Department managers in January 2023, following the entry into force of the Treasury Board requirement on the subject,” explains Ms.me Bensadoun.
Despite this note, purchases on Amazon in the MTQ doubled in 2023 compared to 2021.
Archive photo, Didier Debusschere
Blue basket: only one official believed in it
Only one brave civil servant seems to have believed in the Blue Basket, created by the Legault government, in 2020, in order to encourage local online purchasing.
The Ministry of the Economy owes a debt of gratitude to Daniel Proulx. The planning technician alone can boast of having carried out 60% of all government transactions on the Blue Basket, which total a measly $5,000.
Mr. Proulx has spent $3,000 on ink cartridges and disinfectant wipes since 2023.
The Blue Basket was launched in the middle of a pandemic, but it took two years, in October 2022, before you could make purchases directly on the site. Despite Mr. Proulx’s efforts, the Blue Basket, which passed into private hands in the summer of 2022, had to end its activities in 2024.
A Fleurdelysée store has been created on Amazon and Quebec products are now identified on the platform. These initiatives remain very discreet for the moment, deplores François Vincent, vice-president for Quebec of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
We questioned the Treasury Board, responsible for the strategy to stimulate the purchase of Quebec products, to find out why it had not set an example by purchasing from the Blue Basket, any more than the other ministries. He did not answer the question, only mentioning: “Nothing prevented public bodies from using it according to their needs.”