Blaine Calkins

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, my colleague and I have been here for a very long time, well over 10 years. It is 15 years for me and I am assuming it is a little north of that—

[Public Services and Procurement, October 9th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, the minister of procurement originally claimed that the government publicly listed all of its contracts and suppliers for PPE online. The parliamentary secretary then rebuked the minister by admitting they have been using the national security exception to keep contracts secret.

Canadian companies cannot be competitive for government contracts if they do not know who got what and for how much. Taxpayers deserve to know how much they are paying for non-medical disposable masks.

Can the minister tell us how many times she has used the national security exception for pandemic-related contracts since March 15?

[COVID-19 Emergency Response, October 7th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is trying to skirt the issue again. He is not actually hearing the question I am asking.

The people I represent, who have asked me to look into this matter on their behalf, would be more than happy to be suppliers. In fact, they did bid on a contract, but they were unable to find out why they were unsuccessful in their bid. This does not make any sense, because there is nothing sensitive about non-medical, disposable masks. Given the fact that we are now months down the road, there seems to be no reason or rational explanation for the need to hide some of this information from the taxpayers of Canada.

I want to know from the parliamentary secretary when this information can be released. Are future contracts where PPE might go to tender from the Government of Canada going to have the same national security exceptions, given the fact that we know much more now than we did several months ago?

Frankly, I too share respect for the bureaucracy—

[COVID-19 Emergency Response, October 7th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to follow up on my question from Friday and hopefully get some clarification on the Liberal government's lack of transparency when it comes to the procurement of essential PPE. To reiterate, the Liberal government has been using national security exceptions in order to prevent Canadians from knowing who is being awarded contracts for items such as disposable, non-medical masks.

When asked on October 1 by the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles about contracts not being disclosed due to national security reasons, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement said, and I quote, “we made all of our contracts public on our website at the end of July in the interest of full transparency for Canadians.”

Then when my colleague from Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman pushed back on that reply, the minister doubled down saying, “in the interest of full transparency we revealed on our website at the end of July all of our contracts and suppliers.” That is a definitive statement. It leaves no room for interpretation or doubt.

On Friday, when I raised in question period that I have an email from the minister's departmental staff confirming to a business in my riding that contract recipients for non-medical, disposable masks were being withheld based on the national security exception, the parliamentary secretary changed the government's tune.

The parliamentary secretary acknowledged that they had been using the national security exception in order to prevent Canadians from knowing who is getting contracts for made-in-Canada PPE. Apparently, this is happening so regularly that the Liberals need to plan for a big document dump after the fact.

Setting aside that the Minister of Public Services and Procurement appears to have misled the House and risked putting herself in contempt of Parliament, given what we know to be true based on the department's own website and the parliamentary secretary's recent admissions, it sounds like the Liberals are trying to use the same tactics they did when they released the WE scandal documents. They tried to bury the opposition with redacted paperwork.

If I were a betting man, I would guess that this additional information will come out right before a constituency week or maybe late in December before the House adjourns, or maybe even in June when it adjourns again. That is the real issue.

The government can use the national security exception to prevent foreign companies or governments from bidding on these contracts. However, that does not mean they need to use the secrecy components to prevent Canadian taxpayers from knowing how much the federal government is paying for our own domestic PPE and other protective equipment, and who we are buying it from. How can Canadian companies know they are competitive with other Canadian companies if all of this information is withheld?

To say that we cannot know who is awarded a domestic-only contract for non-medical, disposable masks because it would put our supply at risk seems very disingenuous, especially when the posted list of interested suppliers is on the website, with the company names, emails and phone numbers to get in touch with them. What it comes down to is this: My constituents no longer believe that the government is spending their tax dollars wisely.

After the WE scandal and the Frank Baylis debacle, and with the procurement ombudsman looking into the former minister of environment's contracting practices, just to name a few recent examples, the Liberal government has proven time and again that they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt.

When will the government release the names of the companies that received contracts for PPE so that Canadian taxpayers can be assured their money is not being funnelled to well-connected Liberal insiders?

[Government Policies, October 7th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Alberta announced that it will establish the centre of excellence for plastics diversion and recycling by 2030 as part of its plan to get Albertans back to work. The plan could lead to a possible $1.4 billion in economic opportunity, and contribute to the creation of over 13,000 jobs while decreasing the impact of plastic waste.

With all the Liberals' talk about the economy and environment going hand in hand, we would have thought that this would have been a welcome plan. However, less than 24 hours later, they have made it clear they intend to get in Alberta's way yet again by declaring plastics as toxic and banning single-use items under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Plastic will now be considered just as toxic as other substances such as mercury and asbestos. Now, in the middle of a pandemic, workers in the plastic manufacturing industry might also find themselves out of a job.

It is clear the Liberals do not have a single use for Albertans. Why do Liberals not understand that it is their policies that are actually toxic?

[Health, October 2nd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government is needlessly using national security rules to hide which Canadian companies are being awarded contracts for PPE. Why can we not know how much we are paying for disposable masks? Why can we not know which Canadian companies are supplying them? This does not seem like a national security issue for the government. It seems more likely to be an ethical insecurity issue for the Liberals.

Why will the Liberals not tell us who is getting what and for how much?

[COVID-19 Emergency Response, October 2nd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Public Services and Procurement said, “we revealed on our website at the end of July all of our contracts and suppliers”, yet I have a document in my hand that says otherwise. In September, the minister's own departmental staff sent an email to a business in my riding that inquired about the status of a contract they had submitted a bid for. The email clearly states, “Due to the National Security Exemption...invoked on this procurement...contract award information will not be posted online”.

Both of these things cannot be true, so which is it?

[Natural Resources, October 1st, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has the highest unemployment in the G7 and our finances are teetering on the brink.

TC Energy's natural gas pipeline expansion could have generated 5,500 good-paying jobs and $4 billion in investment, with all the tax revenue to go with it. The Canadian Energy Regulator recommended this project for approval back in February, but the Liberals still have not acted.

Does the lifeline that the NDP threw the government include a knife in the back of the west again or are the Liberals just this spiteful all on their own?

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, July 22nd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, it is either a yes or a no. The fact that the Liberals are refusing to respond with a no means that the answer is obviously yes.

Therefore, my question is this: How much information has the government received from WE, and when did it receive it?

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, July 22nd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I am actually referring to testimony that just happened at the finance committee, where it has been alleged by one of the witnesses that WE has transferred information, the personal data of Canadians, to the Liberal Party of Canada. When WE was asked about this directly, it refused to answer, just like the government is refusing to answering.

Can we have a clear answer? Can we shine some light on this issue? Yes or no, has the Liberal Party of Canada ever received the data of Canadians from WE?